The private sector warned on Wednesday (10) of the possibility of shortages of agricultural products in the coming weeks, due to the successive floods caused by the heavy rainfall in the south of the country, and also warned of a possible rise in prices.
“We’re going to try to manage it as best we can with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and also with the institutions that monitor the situation so that prices don’t rise, but you know it’s a reality and it’s hard to get away from it. This is one of the consequences of the shortage of products caused by the heavy rains,” said Maria Abdula, vice-president of the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA).
According to her, the organisation is surveying the damage and losses in the business sector and preliminary indications are that there have been huge losses.
“There are records of the destruction of agricultural crops, commercial establishments and machinery, transport routes, among others. This means that the normal supply of foodstuffs, such as vegetables, will be constrained in the south of the country,” he said.
The current rainy season, which began in October 2023, has already caused the deaths of 135 people and affected a further 116,334. Of the total deaths, 57 were caused by lightning, 31 by cholera, 24 by drowning, 20 by houses collapsing and three by animal attacks.
Mozambique is considered one of the countries most severely affected by global climate change, facing cyclical floods and tropical cyclones during the rainy season, which runs from October to April.
