“Project Sustenta” has US$80 million for agriculture and natural resource management

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“Project Sustenta” has US$80 million for agriculture and natural resource management

2:00 CAT | 21 Dec 2018

Noticias

As part of its “Sustenta” project, the Mozambican government, through the Ministry of Land, Environment and Rural Development, with the support of the World Bank, will make US$80 million available next year to finance projects related to agriculture and natural resources in the districts of Ribauè, Lalaua, Malema, Rapale and Mecuburi.

The funding, to be allocated through a credit line, is targeted at small enterprises managed mostly by young people who have a vocation for agricultural production and marketing and the integrated management of forest resources, who have already submitted projects.

The financing extends to micro, small and medium enterprises with wide experience in the agricultural area, including commercialization.

Announcing the funding during a meeting with entrepreneurs, district administrators and SDAE directors, Governor of Nampula Victor Borges stressed that for the companies that had submitted projects, subsidized financing varied between US$100,000 and US$500,000.

“For those who are larger in size and can afford better financing, this funding could go up to a million dollars,” Borges said.

The financing is intended to promote agricultural product value chains, with the emphasis on maize, sesame, beans, vegetables and cashew nuts, even though the latter is an income crop.

The Sustenta project was launched in 2017 by President Nyusi with the aim of stimulating the rural economy through the integration of sustainable value chains based on agriculture and management of forest resources, in order to improve the conditions and quality of the rural families covered.

At the time, Borges explained that at the beginning of its implementation, the Sustenta project had made available US$40 million to finance 18 small commercial emerging farmers. The amount also assisted seven lines of intervention, including technical assistance and the construction of dams and access roads.

“But at the same time there was also a window of financing for medium-sized companies, not just emerging small-scale commercial farmers, and these followed in eighteen phases, thereby assisting about 1,200 small farmers,” the governor said.

Eliotério Mabujaia, the director of Financial Assistance for the organization and Marketing of the Institute of Small and Medium Enterprises in Mozambique, highlighted the event as an opportunity for business development and implementation of business plans and projects, with funding to be injected in next year, mainly in the strategic economic areas such as agriculture, agricultural marketing and industry, they being sectors of great importance for the development of the province and the country.

“Entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized enterprises often find it difficult to access financing because of constraints and lack of real guarantees and other requirements that are required by commercial banks,” Mabujaia said.

Source: Jornal Noticias