A study presented this Wednesday (19), in Maputo, states that Mozambique maintains the production pattern in agriculture of the colonial period, exporting more cash crops and importing more food, a paradigm that makes the country vulnerable to external shocks in essential goods.
“We still have the challenge of changing the way this economy of Mozambique was structured to serve colonial interests,” said Constantino Marrengula, economist and researcher, who released the “Study on the political economy of the agriculture sector”, prepared by the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE) of Mozambique, an independent research institution.
The economist said that national production of cotton, tobacco, cashew nuts and sugar outstrips that of food, the supply of which is mainly ensured by imports.
“We have become more vulnerable because we are failing to produce and increase resources in the production of food,” Marrengula emphasised.
For the economist, the fact that the Mozambican state’s budget deficit is financed by international partners, cash crops generate immediate income and imports ensure gains for private interests with influence over political leadership can help explain the production model followed in the country’s agriculture.
“The interests that revolve around food imports must be taken into account”, in the influence they exert on low domestic production and “in the choices of the Government and donors”, emphasised the researcher.
Constantino Marrengula pointed out that the priority on export crops is also noticeable in the allocation of public resources, which are mostly channelled to actions aimed at maximising gains in that type of production to the detriment of food.
“The investments with greater vigour and resources are around these cash crops,” Marrengula said.
The researcher warned of the risk that the production paradigm followed in Mozambique in agriculture perpetuates poverty, because dependence on food imports makes products more expensive for the poor.
“You cannot fight poverty when food becomes more expensive because it is imported,” he said.
“Overall, I would say that there are few resources allocated to those areas that can make a structural transformation of those sectors that produce food,” he emphasised.
Constantino Marrengula pointed to the case of irrigation infrastructure for fields intended for food production as an example of insufficient channelling of resources in this area.
