5th July -Gaza & Zambézia- The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is supporting 5,500 families affected by floods in the provinces of Gaza and Zambézia, after the floods caused by heavy rains in the south and the passage of Cyclone Freddy in the center regions.

The support includes the distribution of vegetable seeds, maize, beans and agricultural tools to around 27,500 people from the districts of Chibuto, Chicualacuala, Mabalane, Mapai, in Gaza province, and Mocuba, Namacurra and Nicoadala, in Zambézia province.

According to the National Coordinator of the FAO emergency project, Orlando Gemo, the intervention will allow the farmers affected by the floods to recover production in the fresh season, confident of reducing dependence on food aid.

FAO and the local government through the SDAE (District Agricultural Services) work in coordination in the selection of communities, beneficiaries and post-distribution assistance, where priority is given to female-headed households, extended families with children under 5 years of age, the elderly and other disadvantaged groups.

The project, funded by the United Nations Emergency Response Fund (CERF), will use a dual approach, providing assistance in-kind in Gaza Province and using an electronic card (e-voucher) system in Zambézia Province, taking advantage of the existence of a commercial network for marketing agricultural inputs and the operational capacity created by other projects implemented by FAO in those provinces.

It is expected that the direct beneficiaries of the project will be able to consume part of the harvested production, thus improving their food security, selling the surplus in local markets increasing the availability of food in the community.

A wave of floods hit the southern part of Mozambique at the end of January, followed by tropical cyclone Freddy at the end of February, which initially hit the coast in the district of Vilankulo and in early March hit the city of Quelimane, in Zambezia province.

More than 166,600 people were affected, according to the National Institute for Risk Reduction and Disaster Management (INGD), and more than 38,100 hectares of crops were affected and more than 18,700 hectares of crops were lost entirely.

In the last decade, Mozambique has been hit by five cyclones and two tropical storms, affecting a total of 3.8 million people. Coordinated international humanitarian assistance was deployed for the five events.

In 2022, natural disasters affected more than one million people and caused significant damage to various infrastructures. The Government of Mozambique estimates that 1.7 million people are at risk from cyclones, floods and droughts in the 2022 to 2023 rainy season.