Mozambique is one of the world’s poorest countries. Nearly 90% of the labour force is engaged in subsistence agriculture. However, less than 10% of the arable land is cultivated, and yields, as well as total production have steadily declined. Sugar cane is by far the major crop produced in the country.

The National Agricultural Research System (NARS) of Mozambique is in a poor state as a result of civil war, natural disasters and economic decline in the region. Only 3 institutions are actively involved in plant breeding in Mozambique. Two of them are public.

Plant breeding efforts are concentrated on combating biotic and abiotic stresses in the main food crops, namely rice, maize, cassava and cowpea. Cotton, as a major cash crop, has also received some attention. Almost all the efforts are directed to line development and evaluation rather than to germplasm enhancement.

An adequate research budget, infrastructure and qualified personnel are lacking in Mozambique. The shortage and quality of the staff have been a major constraint for all crop programmes. The country should rapidly upgrade its facilities and invest in staff education and training to ensure food security.

Research and education institutes with activities in plant breeding

Public Institutes

Faculty of Agronomy and Forest Engineering - Faculdade de Agronomia e Engenharia Florestal (FAEF), University Eduardo Mondlane Website available in Portuguese FAEF belongs to the University of Eduardo Mondlane, a public higher education institution. The crop improvement programme started in the early 1980s. Due to the shortage of the staff, the FAEF has only been involved in crop improvement of three crops: cowpeas, groundnuts and sunflower. Since 2002, the FAEF is also involved in plant biotechnology research, namely in molecular characterization of local cowpea.

National Institute of Agriculture Research - Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrícola (INIA) No Website available INIA is a public research institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Funding is from PROAGRI (Programme for investment in public agriculture sector) which is a pool of both the government and multi-donors funds. The crop improvement programme started in 1967 at IIAM (the predecessor name of INIA) pioneered by the hybrid development in maize. Biotechnology research has never been seriously undertaken at INIA due the lack of functional laboratory facilities and trained personnel.

Private Institute

Mozambique Seeds Company - Sementes de Moçambique (SEMOC) No Website available SEMOC is a private seed production company. It began working in crop improvement, on maize and rice only, since the period 1998-2000. The SEMOC business does not include biotechnology.

______________________________________

Information by Paulino Munisse (2004) - Information based on the Mozambique's full report from the PBBC survey. Last revised 15-03-2010, GIPB