The Province of Gaza may produce, in the current campaign, little more than 60 thousand of rice, as a result of the commitment of producers, who have increased the areas and have better technologies that allow the growth of yields per hectare.
This expectation was shared by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Celso Coreia, after visiting the Eduardo Mondlane Irrigation, in Chókwè, and the Baixo Limpopo, in Xai-Xai.
Correia pointed out that, in the Regadio of Baixo Limpopo alone, the production may exceed 40 thousand tons, while Chókwè may reach 20 thousand tons.
“We are here, in this province, to monitor the campaign. We visited the fields and
we talked to the members of the associations. Despite the impact of the floods, we noticed that the effect of the exercise done here under Sustenta, which consisted of increasing production areas, is much greater than the impact of the rains,” he said.
Correia indicated that within two months this production expectation should be confirmed.
“The important thing is to be sure that the investment made was worth it. We want to believe that the path we are following opens doors for us to be able to do even more in the future,” he added.
Correia indicated that the rice production areas were leveled at the beginning of the campaign, with public investment, besides the mobilization of new producers who learned techniques aimed at increasing productivity per hectare.
Correia promised to intercede with the buyers and processors of rice so that the production is absorbed by the value chain and at a fair price.
At the moment, the producers sell the kilo of rice at 14 meticais, but they want it to go up to 25 meticais.
On his tour, he went to the district of Chókwè, where he interacted with members of the
Josina Machel and Samora Machel associations, to find out the level of damage caused by the rains.
In the first association, 20 hectares of rice are reported lost, out of an
plowed area of 100 hectares, with an expected production of 600 tons of the 900 tons initially 900 tons initially projected. In the “Samora Machel”, 113 hectares were submerged, out of a total area of 243 hectares. In spite of this adversity, the producers believe that they will harvest 1452 tons, in other words, twice as much as in the
previous harvest.
So far, the province of Gaza has lost 54,000 hectares of various crops due to the floods.
The minister indicated that the Government will make available seed to the producers of the
gadios of Chókwè and the Lower Limpopo Limpopo for the re-launch of rice rice production in the areas affected areas affected by floods.
He acknowledged that one of the problems faced by the program is the availability of tractors by the private sector. According to the governor, the country used to import only 100 tractors annually, but with Sustenta this number rose to 400 units last year, and should reach two thousand units in the
two thousand units in the current campaign.
