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Mozambique has immense agricultural potential, with an estimated 36
million hectares of arable land, of which only 10 percent is presently in
productive use. The wide diversity of soil types and the diverse climatic
conditions in the country are suitable for a large variety of crops. Most
of the agriculture practised in Mozambique is non-irrigated. However,
Mozambique’s network of more than 60 rivers has allowed for the
construction of irrigation schemes. Total potential irrigated area is
estimated at 3.3 million hectares. The main irrigation systems are at
Chokwe and the sugar plantations in Incomati, Maragra, Buzi, Mafambisse
and Luambo, covering a total of some 59,000 hectares. The Zambezi Valley
has great investment potential in the agricultural sector offering both
excellent arable land and readily available irrigation. To assist the
development of this area, the government set up the Zambezi Planning
Office in 1997 to promote and coordinate social and economic development.
Special tax incentives are also offered.
Agriculture is the backbone of the economy providing employment for over
75 percent of the workforce and contributing an estimated 26.2 percent to
GDP in 2005. Drought in the central and southern regions of the country
impacted negatively on the production of cereals in 2005. This together
with the fall in the production of poultry, due to strong competitiveness
of chicken imported from Brazil at lower prices, were behind the
substantial fall in the growth rates of the agriculture, livestock and
forestry sectors, as a whole, which stood at 1.8 percent during the year.
At
present the agricultural sector is still dominated by the family
sub-sector which accounts for 90 percent of the cultivated areas and
includes 2.5 million households. This sub-sector relies on rain-fed
farming and has very basic techniques resulting in low yields. The
remaining arable land is cultivated by large commercial farms that
concentrate on cash and export crops.
In
1996 the Mozambican government launched an ambitious commercial
agriculture joint venture between South African farmers and Mozambique (MOZAGRIUS,
coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development), a
broadly successful scheme to attract farmers from South Africa to the
largest and most fertile northern province of Niassa. Farmers
participating in the scheme have already settled in Niassa. There is also
an influx of farmers from Zimbabwe who have settled in the Manica
province.
In the
early 1970s, sugar was the country’s third major export commodity and one
of the main employment generators with 45,000 workers. It currently
employs 17,000 seasonal and permanent workers.
The
recent initiative by the European Union to liberalise all trade with least
developed countries includes sugar. Although the sugar import regime’s
complete liberalisation will not occur until 2008, the initiative could
potentially have a very beneficial impact on the sector.
Livestock Production
Mozambique has excellent climatic and land conditions for the development
of livestock. The rearing of cattle, pigs, goats, rabbits and poultry has
great potential as the existing supply does not meet domestic demand, with
significant volumes of meat, poultry and dairy products currently being
imported, mainly from South Africa and Europe.
The
impact of drought, which worsened in the second half of 2005, affected
cattle and goat herd breeding reducing the sector's growth to 0.7 percent
during the year compared to the 5.1 percent growth recorded in 2004.
Fisheries
The
fisheries sector is a major source of foreign exchange earnings,
accounting for around 2 percent of GDP in 2004. The sector recorded
negative rates in 2004 (a reduction of 8 percent in relation to 2003) due
to unfavourable climatic conditions. The country has a potential catch of
fish and shellfish of some 300,000 tonnes a year. The sector has both
industrial and small-scale fisheries and employs up to 100,000 people, 90
percent of whom are artisanal fishermen or involved in fish processing and
marketing activities.
The
Mozambican fishing fleet is limited, although there are a number of direct
licensing schemes and joint venture companies with Japanese, Spanish,
Portuguese and South African fishing firms. Prawns and shrimp are
harvested mainly by these companies. Activities undertaken towards the
industrialisation of the sector have resulted in a rise of industrial
fisheries, with particular reference to lobster (100 percent), squid and
octopus (175 percent), Kapenta (67.6 percent), crayfish (20 percent), and
squid and octopus (73.5 percent).
The
main export species include crayfish, shrimp, fish and langoustine.
Mozambique exports primarily raw fish. The government strategy is to
promote the value-added in this sector and it thus welcomes foreign
investors who can provide semi-industrial shrimp vessels as well as
installations of processing plants and fishing infrastructure.
Aquaculture in Mozambique is in its infancy and its future development is
a top priority for the government, especially of shrimp aquaculture. The
first major foreign investment came from the French firm Aquamar, Lda.
The
value of prawn exports decreased by US$20.9 million in 2005, due to weak
capture as a result of lesser availability and the competitiveness of
Chinese prawns in the American market, which being produced in an
aquaculture regime are traded at prices almost half of those applied for
prawns captured in the sea.
Opportunities also exist for the culture of oysters, mussels, algae and
pearls.
Forestry
Mozambique has an estimated 19 million hectares of productive woodland.
Tropical hardwoods are the most valuable products, although pine and
eucalyptus plantations also exist. The more important species include
umbila, jambirre, chanfuta and African sandalwood.
The
country’s logging capacity is estimated at around 500,000 cubic metres per
year. Current off-take is well below this level. Apart from the natural
forests, there is potential for the development of plantation forests with
around one million hectares of land with suitable conditions available.
The natural potential of the sector, coupled with the present
under-development, offers a wide range of opportunities for investors to
meet expanding local and international demand for timber, construction
materials, furniture, and pulp for the paper industry.
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