New investment by EU to strengthen agribusiness
A joint mission of the European Union (EU) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held a four-day working visit to Nampula province to assess existing agricultural challenges and potential, and also to monitor the activities of the Millennium Development Goal Programme- MDG1c.
The visit, led by the EU's Head of Cooperation, Isabel Faria de Almeida, and the FAO Representative in Mozambique, Olman Serrano, began with a courtesy meeting with the Governor of the Province, where the Head of EU Cooperation announced a new investment of 28 million USD for a new programme in partnership with FAO and the German Agency for International Cooperation - GIZ.
"We are thinking about the future, which is this EU's investment in the provinces of Nampula and Zambézia, amounting to 28 million USD and we will work with FAO in the domain of agriculture, increased production and productivity, said the Head of Cooperation of the European Union, Isabel Faria de Almeida.
"We want to contribute to inclusive economic growth, where all people find benefits, not just some. Women will deserve special attention. We want that, by combining nutrition with agriculture, transport to energy, we can contribute to the development of these two provinces and implicitly throughout the country, "she explained.
During the same meeting, FAO Representative, Olman Serrano, highlighted some positive results of the MDG1c programme in that province. "FAO, in collaboration with the Government, in particular the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MASA), has been able to achieve very positive results, such as increased access to quality inputs through e-vouchers, improved seed production, chickens vaccination against Newcastle disease and we also had the opportunity to help farmers to conserve what they produced by building improved barns. The results are very positive, we hope that with the new programme we can increase the number of beneficiaries, while maintaining the quality of the work we are already doing in the districts. "
On the other hand, the Provincial Governor, Victor Borges, praised the implementation of the programme in Ribaué district in Nampula, noting that the e-voucher component was very useful in the production of quality seeds and other inputs for the 2017/2018 agricultural season.
The investment for this new programme, starting in 2019, comes from the 11th European Development Fund and is intended to support rural development, including, in addition to agribusiness, roads, energy, nutrition and biodiversity programmes, totalizing 68 million USD.
The joint FAO / EU mission also interacted with producer groups of Farmer Field Schools of Zambézia and Nampula provinces, meeting to exchange experiences, a practice implemented by FAO in the MDG1c programme which benefits, in all its components, around of 200 000 producers throughout the country.