The government is projecting a growth in global agricultural production of less than 6 per cent next year, which shows that the country’s food security goals are still a long way off.
According to the projections contained in the proposal for the Economic and Social Plan (PES) for 2024, which will soon be debated in parliament, in percentage terms global production will increase by 5.7%, leveraged by cereals, where the forecast volume is just over three million tonnes.
“In the agricultural sector, it is expected to produce around 3.1 million tonnes of cereals, 612,200 tonnes of pulses, 291,600 tonnes of oilseeds, 3.9 million tonnes of vegetables, 7.8 million tonnes of roots and tubers and 166,000 tonnes of almonds,” indicate the targets contained in the PES.
Meanwhile, for this result, the Mozambican Executive points to an increase in the production area of around 2%, an increase in the number of families practising agriculture, investment in new areas of commercial agriculture and an increase in the number of families with access to means of production which, under the Sustenta programme, is expected to rise from 316,200 to 455,400.
On the other hand, the proposal projects an increase in the area of irrigated production from 18,100 hectares to 21,500, as a result of the “requalification of irrigated areas”.
“With regard to access to technical assistance and rural extension services, the number of households with access to comprehensive assistance is expected to rise from 976,200 to 1.2 million by 2024,” says the proposal, quoted by Terra magazine.
However, in order to solve one of the main problems affecting family producers, which is access to improved seeds, the government says it will increase the “production of certified seed, from the current 13,000 tonnes to 15,000, driven by an increase in the inspected area, which should rise from 4,000 hectares to 5,000”.
