Three small companies located in the districts of Mocuba and Alto Molócuè, in Zambézia province, have received funding of more than 450,000 dollars (28.4 million meticals) to promote agro-processing, the newspaper Noticias reported on Wednesday 8 May.
The companies in question are AGROMMISSO, AGROSUL and SAFEMOZ, whose managers signed a financing agreement with the Feed the Future Mozambique – Integrated Resilience in Nutrition and Agriculture (FTF-RESINA) project a few days ago in the city of Quelimane.
On the occasion, Zambezia’s provincial director of Agriculture and Fisheries, Fernando Namacua, challenged the companies to increase agricultural production and productivity, stimulate economic growth, generate income and employment for young people.
‘In recent years, the government has been faced with a reduction in production and productivity, despite the greater flow and availability of public and private investment and the allocation of modern means of production.’
Fernando Namacua
He called on FTF-RESINA to implement resilient actions to respond to the current situation, especially climate change, which is influencing the destruction of agricultural producers’ survival resources.
For her part, the technical director of FTF-RESINA, Leonor Victor, said that this year the project plans to cover around 18,000 families. She also explained that with the funding, the companies will have greater capacity to intervene in the communities where the activities under the project are implemented.
Given the challenges facing the province in terms of the availability of locally produced seeds with quality certification, Leonor Victor said that one of the components of the agreement with AGROMMISSO is the investment in equipment and staff training for the production of seeds that will benefit, in addition to Alto Molócuè, the districts of Mocuba, Ile and Namacurra.
The source also called on the financed companies to promote market opportunities for family sector producers, with a view to increasing production and productivity and increasing income through agriculture.
The FTF-RESINA project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and operates in five districts of Zambézia province, namely Mocuba, Lugela, Ile, Namarroi and Alto Molócuè.
The initiative aims to facilitate lines of financing for SMEs, with a view to increasing food security and agricultural productivity, boosting sources of income in agriculture and fish farming with the aim of improving community nutrition.
Mariano Alberto, AGROMMISSO’s executive director, said that with the funding they will buy more seed from the communities and increase processing capacity. He also stressed that this is an opportunity to dynamise the agricultural market in the Alto Molócuè district.
