The President of the Republic, Daniel Chapo, called on Wednesday, May 28, for a significant boost in national agricultural production, aiming to reduce the country’s external dependency on food and transform it into an exporter of agricultural products. “We will work to produce food and not import it. The state spends a lot of money importing rice every year, and when we buy rice from abroad, we are taking our money to give to other countries,” said the head of state during a ceremony handing over irrigation systems and agricultural inputs to local producers in the Guijá district, Gaza province.
Daniel Chapo emphasized the urgent need to increase production scale: “We have to produce in quantity. We must reach a production level where we produce food and, just as others sell to us, we sell to them.” For the President, boosting internal production will have direct positive impacts on the national economy, especially on public investment capacity. “If we reduce food imports, the money we save can be used to build more schools, expand the electrical grid, among other essential aspects for the country’s development,” he highlighted.
Modernization of Agricultural Trade Advances with New Digital Platform
The presidential speech comes amid advances in the digitalization and modernization of agricultural trade. On May 16, the Electronic System for Phytosanitary Licensing and Certification (SELICEF) was launched—a new platform aimed at streamlining export and import processes for agricultural products.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, SELICEF aims to “facilitate trade by reducing waiting times for document processing,” enhancing transparency and efficiency of services.
Funded by the Netherlands and Ireland, the digital platform integrates with existing systems such as the Single Electronic Window and the EPHYTO system of the International Plant Protection Convention, allowing faster and safer management of phytosanitary certificates. This effort is part of a broader strategy to make the national agricultural sector more competitive and less dependent on imports, strengthening food sovereignty and the country’s export capacity.
Source: Diário Económico
