Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi announced today that around 20 million tonnes could be marketed in the current 2024 agricultural marketing year.
The figure represents an increase of three million tonnes compared to the previous marketing year, when 17 million tonnes were sold, an increase of 17.6 percent.
Among the most commercialised products are cereals, pulses and tubers, among others, in the current campaign, which will involve more than 7,000 players.
Food products will be placed on the domestic market and cash crops on the foreign market.
According to Nyusi, commercialisation must be transparent, underpinned by fair tariffs, as a way of guaranteeing a fair balance for all those involved in the value chain.
“We want the work to be done transparently, fairly, so that we can all win. You win by buying and reselling, and others win by buying to eat,” said Nyusi during the central ceremony to launch agricultural commercialisation, which took place at the Luelela administrative post, Mandimba district, Niassa province.
Nyusi encouraged farmers to increase production levels because it is a crucial sector for solving various everyday problems.
“When we produce, we sell and when we sell, we have money to buy notebooks, giro [mobile phone operator credits] and pay for energy […] so I ask us to continue producing because our problems can only be solved with production,” he emphasised.
Nyusi guarantees that fair prices will be set during the commercialisation of agricultural products, which formally begins today throughout Mozambican territory.
“I came here to tell you, as of today, officially, the [agricultural] marketing campaign begins; follow the procedures, no more inventing high prices, no more operators stealing from the citizen, what you know costs 10 meticals, don’t go around saying it costs four just to exploit it,” he warned.
Nyusi, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the Defence and Security Forces (FDS), called on citizens, especially young people, not to be fooled by invitations to join the ranks of terrorists.
Since October 2017, Cabo Delgado province has been the target of terrorist attacks that have killed more than 4,000 people and forced more than a million to seek refuge in safer areas.
Nyusi also reiterated the call for citizens to ignore inappropriate propaganda messages that appear in the interpretation of the origin of diseases such as haemorrhagic conjunctivitis and cholera.
“The structures are telling us how to protect ourselves from diseases. They say you should wash your hands, food products, boil water. When they say that, they are teaching the holy remedy,” he said, dismissing messages that patients with conjunctivitis should boil tree leaves and apply them to their eyes.
Nyusi warned that if they do this they run the risk of going blind, so they should just follow the recommendations of the health authorities.
During the ceremony, Nyusi attended an exhibition of agricultural products produced in the provinces of Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula and Zambézia.
