The Mozambican Chamber of Commerce estimates that small farmers in the country could almost double their income if they had adequate storage for their crops, according to information made public on Wednesday.
Averaging over various products analysed, it was found that small agricultural producers lost around 11 billion meticais [€163 million] per year, said Hipólito Hamela, economist and advisor to the Mozambique Chamber of Commerce, quoted by Televisão de Moçambique (TVM).
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Hamela was speaking on the sidelines of a debate on training small farmers, in an initiative coordinated by the World Food Program (WFP) and called ‘Zero Post-Harvest Losses’.
If there were no losses, producers “would earn around 22 billion meticais [€326 million euros] in revenue”, against the current s 12 billion meticais (€178 million), Hamela said.
The ‘Zero Post-Harvest Losses’ initiative distributes to farmers 50-kilogram airtight silos or bags, which are impassable to insects that attack corn grains, beans, peanuts and other agricultural products.
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“WFP tested [the initiative] in six districts of Tete and the results were very good”, said Adilson Mangueze, coordinator of the initiative, noting that the activity has been expanded to all districts in this province.
The program will be implemented in three more Mozambican provinces, namely Manica, Zambézia and Nampula, in addition to Maputo and Tete provinces, where it is already being carried out.
