The Agriculture and Fisheries sector in the province of Manica needs 52 million meticais to recover 119.343 hectares of production affected by the effects of cyclones Chalane and Eloise.
Of this area, about five thousand hectares were completely lost, being the district of Gondola the most affected, according to the provincial director of Agriculture and Fisheries of Manica, Ernesto Lopes.
He also said that more than 32,000 families have lost their crops, especially maize in the districts of Gondola, Maca
te, Sussundenga and Chimoio districts, considered as the most affected.
The director says that the Sustenta project has been supporting small farmers in the affected regions, a fact that contributed to the reduction of the previous 52 to 34 million meticais.
In fact, actions are underway to mobilize the 34 million meticals from cooperation partners.
According to Lopes, the amount will be invested in the acquisition of agricultural inputs
as corn seeds, sesame, soybeans, vegetables, fertilizers, among others,
to enable those affected to bet on the second sowing season.
So far, the Agriculture and Fisheries sector has already distributed unspecified quantities of seeds, especially corn and beans, “but there are regions where
access roads are still impassable. We are doing everything possible to reach
the referred regions”.
According to Lopes, 88 fish ponds have also been affected, and the Agriculture, through the State Budget, has just to acquire 30 thousand alevins
to repopulate the ponds ponds destroyed by the phenomena.
