Mozambique to export new lychee variety to Europe

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique to export new lychee variety to Europe

8:38 CAT | 24 Feb 2022

File photo: Conselho Executivo Provincial de Manica

As of this year, Mozambique will export a new variety of lychee to the European continent – a variety of Chinese origin, and of high commercial value. Steps towards growing it in Mozambique are being implemented in Manica, in the centre of the country.

News of this development was shared in Tete at the launch of the Catalytic Fund for Innovation and Demonstration, by Anselmo Mareque, representing Westfalia Fruit Moçambique, a fruit-growing firm based in Manica.

Read: Mozambique: Manica eyes on more than 300 tons of litchi to be exported to Europe

Quoted by ‘Notícias’, Mareque remarked that Mozambique had the agro-ecological conditions to introduce the seedless lychee species in districts with a certain micro-climate, such as Macossa, in Manica province.

Mareque added that another strategy favouring Mozambique’s insertion in the European market, and in other parts of the world, was its early harvest in relation to Madagascar, its main competitor on the continent.

Maruque noted that fruit could be ready for sale in Mozambique in November, before the start of production in Madagascar, which starts in December.

Anselmo Mareque added that developments were also underway to increase the production of the fruit from the current 150 tonnes to 600 tonnes per year.

Governor of Tete, Domingos Viola presided over the official launch of the second edition of the Catalytic Fund for Innovation and Demonstration (FCID).

Speaking on the occasion, Viola explained that the fund was intended for small producers and micro, small and medium enterprises, with a view to increasing trade between Mozambique and Malawi and along the Nacala and Beira Corridors.

Viola said he hoped that the funding would also boost production and commercial activities in Tete province, as well as supporting the search for new ways of storing and processing produce.

Governor Viola also hoped that the fund would boost fraternal ties between Mozambique and Malawi.

The Catalytic Fund for Innovation and Demonstration (FCID) is a support mechanism for small producers and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), being implemented under the technical coordination of the Zambezi Agency within the scope of the Southern Africa Trade and Connectivity Project (SATCP).

The FCID aims to stimulate the development of value chains in trade with Malawi, and exports in the Zambezi Valley Region (including the Beira Corridor for SADC countries), and the Nacala and Maputo Corridors (Ponta de Ouro route), through complementary public and private investments.

The SATCP, within which the Catalytic Fund for Innovation and Demonstration is inserted, is an initiative of the Government of Mozambique in partnership with the Government of Malawi, financed by the World Bank and implemented jointly by the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the National Roads Administration (ANE).

The project’s central objectives are to increase regional trade coordination, strengthen value chains of regional interest and improve access to infrastructure.