The results of the 2020 Integrated Agrarian Survey (IAI), conducted for the first time by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), with detailed district-level information, cited by the newspaper “O País”, indicate that, in Mozambique, there are about 4.3 million agro-livestock holdings, of which 4 167 702 (equivalent to 97.8%) are small, 93 183 (2.19%) medium, and 873 (less than 0.02%) large holdings. Small and medium farms account for about 99% of the total.
Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Zambézia provinces have the most small farms. Meanwhile, Tete, Manica, and Gaza have the largest number of medium farms, and finally, most of the large farms are in Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambézia, and Gaza provinces.
Of the total of about 4.3 million farms (small and medium), about 6.9% received information and 39.9% had access to price information and 0.6% to credit.
In terms of the ratio gender-sector of activity, for both men (47.5%) and women (49.5%), agriculture ranks first, of small and medium farms by activities with access to extension services. With regard to access to prices, 39.9% of small and medium farms with participation in associations have access to the price system.
With regard to financial services, only 15% of small and medium farms have access. Regarding ownership of farms and land law, 95% of small and medium farms have cultivated farms, orchards/plantations, but only 9.1% use technologies, 8.7% have access to land granted by traditional authorities, and 2.4% by formal authorities.
As for cereal production, Niassa is the largest national producer of maize (98.3%), but loses out to Tete (14.5%) and Manica (14%) in terms of use of certified seed, with a volume of 132,772 tons, out of the 1,632,321 produced nationally.
The province of Sofala is the largest producer of rice (37.16%), followed by Zambezia, but loses out to Manica (10.8%) and Inhambane (9.5) in terms of certified seed. Tete is the largest producer of sorghum (38 463 tons) and millet (11 363 tons).
“The cultivated area was about 5.5 million hectares, where 5.5% of farms used pesticides on their fields, 8.8% used manure, 7.8% used chemical fertilizers, and 9.1% used irrigation,” indicates IAI 2020.
Maputo and Inhambane provinces have the highest post-harvest losses of corn (13.5% of losses at the national level), with 29.4% and 26.0%, respectively, followed by Nampula, with 18.4%. With respect to rice (20.7% losses at the national level), Sofala leads with 37.8% losses, followed by Maputo province with 29.3%.
Inhambane, Gaza and Sofala lose more sorghum (19.7% loss at the national level) after harvest with the rates of 59.5%, 47.6% and 25.6% respectively. As for millet (29.6% loss at the national level), Sofala, Tete and Inhambane have the highest post-harvest losses, with rates of 45.8%, 24.9% and 16.8%, respectively. Tete, Nampula, Niassa and Manica are the provinces that sell the most cereals, being part of the 5 most productive provinces in the country.
In the chapter of oilseeds, Tete is the largest producer of butter beans (24.2%), Maputo province of cowpeas (60.8%), Nampula, of jugo beans (15.6%), and Zambézia, pigeon peas (51.9%). In roots and tubers, Maputo province stands out as the largest producer of cassava (54.6%), Gaza, of sweet potatoes with orange flesh (10.7%) and normal (13.3%).
With regard to cash crops, Cabo Delgado is the province where there were more farms producing cash crops, such as cotton (9.3%), sesame (27.3%) and sisal (0.3%); Niassa, tobacco (6.9%), Tete, sugar cane (8.7%) and soybeans (8.4%), and Zambézia, sunflower (1.7%). However, the largest producers of cash crops are Nampula (15.8 thousand tons of cotton), Zambézia (29 thousand tons of soybeans), Sofala (39.8 thousand tons of sesame), and Tete (2.5 thousand tons of sunflower and 45 thousand tons of tobacco).
In the livestock sector, the province of Gaza leads in cattle production with 511,608 head, followed by Inhambane and Maputo, both with 378,000 head. Tete is the largest producer of pigs (441 843 heads), and small ruminants (1 097 196 heads) and Sofala leads chicken production, with 3 670 443 heads.
“The IAI 2020 involved 541 technicians, including specialists, supervisors, controllers and surveyors who covered the entire national territory in the sampling process, covering 141 districts and about 25,000 households,” said Celso Korea, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the IAI 2020 is a statistical benchmark and the main source of data for the agribusiness sector, as it provides reliable data disaggregated down to the district level to support the planning and decision-making process at all levels, based on scientific evidence.
With the endorsement of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and funded by the World Bank, IFAD, and AfDB, the IAI found that in 2020 the main crops grown on various farms were maize, rice, sorghum, small groundnuts, nhemba beans, boer beans, cassava, cotton, and sugar cane.
