At least 17,000 peasant families will benefit from various seeds in the 2024-2025 agricultural campaign in Manica province, in the centre of the country, the Agência de Informação de Moçambique reported on Monday, 25 November .
According to the agency, these are around 200 tonnes of maize seeds, 12.5 tonnes of bean seeds and 1.9 tonnes of vegetable seeds. The distribution includes more than three tonnes of fertiliser, as a way of ensuring that producers have good production in the current agricultural campaign.
The coordinator of the Post-Cyclone Reconstruction Office (GREPOC), Maria de Nádia Charles, explained that the seed could be distributed later this year to minimise the lack of inputs, especially for peasant families living in areas devastated by Cyclone Idai and other natural phenomena. ‘All the seed procurement processes have already been finalised. It’s an initiative being carried out by the Post-Cyclone Reconstruction Office and its partners. By the end of December, all the seeds will be in the hands of the farmers,’ she said.
The districts of Sussundenga, Vanduzi, Manica, Mossurize and Machaze suffered the most from the effects of Cyclone Idai in March 2019.
Maria Charles said that the gesture reaffirms the government’s commitment and reinforces the determination of all those involved in the production chain to have a good harvest in the current agricultural season. ‘We will always be working tirelessly to mobilise more resources and find solutions to the problems that still affect our producers in the production areas, especially those in the family sector,’ she said, stressing that she had ’faith that the resilience of our communities remains the basis for an increasingly prosperous future. We know that even under many difficulties, producers have always endeavoured to increase agricultural production. That’s why we’ve included fertilisers in this assistance package.’
In the 2024-2025 agricultural season, the province of Manica aims to produce a total of 3.63 million tonnes of various crops, in a ploughed area estimated at one million hectares, and around 100,000 producers will be involved, mostly from the family sector.
The National Meteorological Institute (INAM) is also forecasting normal to above-normal rainfall for this season, which could contribute to good agricultural production.
Following the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai in the centre of the country, the government set up GREPOC on 11 April 2019, with the aim of ensuring the recovery and reconstruction of the areas most affected by Cyclone Idai, later extending the geographical scope to deal with the damage caused by Kenneth.
The recovery and reconstruction needs at the time of GREPOC’s creation were estimated at 202.2 million meticals (3.2 billion dollars), with various financial institutions, cooperation agencies, the United Nations and the European Union channelling their financial support towards this response.
