FAO held seminar on pulses in Nampula Province
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Lúrio University in Nampula, The Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM), the Technical Secretariat for Food Security and Nutrition (SETSAN) with support from Austrian Cooperation held last Thursday a seminar and a fair on pulses in Mozambique. The event brought together different actors involved in agriculture, including Government institutions, NGO's, members of academy and agricultural research, public and private sectors and students of that university.
The year 2016 was declared International Year of Pulses by the 68th UN General Assembly aiming to increase public awareness for nutritional benefits of pulses through the sustainable food production intended for food safety and nutrition.
Opening the seminar, the FAO Representative in Mozambique, Castro Camarada highlighted different aspects that reflect the important role of pulses in Mozambique, being Nampula one of the key producing regions of pulses such as common beans, pigeon peas, cowpeas and others. Mr. Camarada emphasized the fact that "this group of crops has very special characteristics that make them a superfood, such as low in fat and zero cholesterol, low in sodium, rich in plant based protein, good source of iron, gluten-free, high in potassium, excellent source of folate, low glycemic index etc".
The Provincial Director of Agriculture and Food Security in Nampula, Pedro Dzucule, highlighted the role of multiple uses that pulses can have "in the nutritional component, in mitigating climate change, in public health disease prevention" and reiterated "the challenge to increase the quantities of production of these crops".
Dzucule also said that "in terms of production, the Province of Nampula, one of the most populous in the country, with about 5 million inhabitants, produced about 800 thousand tons of different crops and about 387 thousand tons of pulses, during last cropping season.
The seminar consisted of presentations of topics related to the production of pulses and marketing and processing challenges, including case studies at the level of some provinces, with greater emphasis on common beans and pigeon peas.
The representative of the Austrian Cooperation, Eva Kohl said that "the production of pulses in Mozambique, especially soybeans and pigeon peas has been increasing year after year since the structured value chains are established, that allow small farmers involved to benefit from additional income through production contracts with the major trading companies of these crops in the central and northern regions of Mozambique".
The event also served as an exchange between the various institutions related to agriculture and students of nutrition at UniLúrio.
Elga Massingarela, student of the 2nd year of nutrition course in UniLúrio sees this event as a "learning opportunity for communities because many people don't know about the value of pulses".
"It is important we promote the consumption of pulses has a very rich nutritional component of vitamins and fiber content," said the student.
The Chancellor of UniLúrio Dr. Francisco Noa, during the occasion, emphasized that "UniLúrio as a research institution, is ready to support research and dissemination of good practices related to production and consumption of pulses to improve food and nutrition security".
During the fair, various products made from pulses including local dishes of Nampula province were exhibited.