The administrator of Gorongosa district, Pedro Mussengue, announced on Tuesday, 8 September, a project to incentivise coffee production across three thousand hectares on the slopes of Serra da Gorongosa over a ten-year period. Valued at 100 million meticais, the initiative is expected to involve around three thousand producers.
According to Pedro Mussengue, the project aims to increase coffee output and create conditions for integrating smallholder farmers into the value chain. The initiative is also intended to facilitate access to national and international markets, ensuring the offtake of production and compliance with the quality standards required for commercial coffee sales.
‘The programme will cover approximately three thousand producers and an area of three thousand hectares across Gorongosa district,’ said Pedro Mussengue, speaking at a meeting that brought together local coffee producers, growers from other regions of the country, independent consultants, and representatives from national and international universities and vocational training institutions.
Pedro Mussengue elaborated: ‘The first market identified is Gorongosa National Park, and the profits generated from coffee sales will be reinvested into the park’s own ecosystem and the Serra, particularly in neighbouring communities.’ Those revenues are expected to support the construction and maintenance of educational and health facilities, as well as agricultural capacity-building programmes.
In this context, the Gorongosa district government and Gorongosa National Park are set to function as the ‘backbone’ of the coffee value chain. Through this partnership, the initiative seeks to promote biodiversity conservation while simultaneously driving the socioeconomic development of communities living in the vicinity of the park and Serra da Gorongosa.
The meeting brought together professionals from the Instituto Superior Politécnico de Manica (ISPM), the Instituto Agrário de Marera, the Centro de Formação Profissional of the Instituto de Formação Profissional e Estudos Laborais Alberto Cassimo (IFPELAC) in Gorongosa, and the Institutos Médios Politécnicos of Gorongosa and Macequece, among other institutions. Consultants from universities, public institutes, and institutions in the Federative Republic of Brazil and other countries also participated.
For its part, Gorongosa National Park identified skills requirements across several areas of the coffee value chain, including the development and adaptation of qualifications in coffee cultivation, job creation, public-private dialogue, and quality assessment and certification.
The initiative thus aims to contribute to the development of coffee farming in Gorongosa district by linking production to biodiversity conservation, while seeking to improve living conditions for communities residing near the park and Serra da Gorongosa.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/09/negocios/agronegocios/sofala-autoridades-de-gorongosa-apostam-no-cafe-para-impulsionar-desenvolvimento-local/
