Mozambique wants US$19 million loan to produce horticultural products

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Mozambique wants US$19 million loan to produce horticultural products

6:53 CAT | 27 Jan 2017

Voa (File photo)

Mozambique is seeking US$19 million in funding to reduce its extreme dependence on vegetables from neighbouring South Africa. The request is being directed to World Bank, the International Development Bank, Exxim Bank of China and Japan’s JICA agency, and would fund the training of 10,000 small vegetable farmers in Mozambique.

Vegetables and fruits such as tomato, onion, potato, cabbage, banana, apple, mango and papaya consumed in the main urban centers of southern Mozambique are mainly imported from neighbouring South Africa.

In some cases, the imported crops are produced by Mozambicans on South African farms.

According to the Mozambican newspaper Correio da Manhã, the country’s deficit of the main vegetables is in the order of 136,000 tons of tomato, 90,000 tons of onion and 135,000 thousand tons of reno potato. To fill this gap, the country imports from South Africa. The consumer pays a high price and complains.

In the midst of default on its obligations and with another group of creditors currently smarting from the government’s failure to pay its January US$60 million instalment, it is questionable whether anybody will lend yet more money to Mozambique, but most analysts think that China would be Mozambique’s best option in its effort to reduce its extreme dependence on South Africa.

Source: Voa Portugues