Maputo, 9 Jul (AIM) – Mozambican Agriculture Minister Celso Correia on Monday claimed that all eleven indicators set for agriculture and livestock in the government’s five year plan for the 2019-2024 period have been met bar one.
Speaking in Maputo at the opening of a National Planning Meeting, Correia said that the only area where targets were missed was milk production. Throughout the period under analysis, milk had proved to be an “Achilles heel” for the agriculture sector, he admitted.
“Although at some moments we recorded growth in milk producing regions of the country, such as Sofala and Manica provinces, our capacity to attract investments to this sector and to compete with more evolved markets may have been one of the determinant factors for why we did not have the same growth as we had for other products and crops”, he said, cited by the independent television station, STV.
Although his Ministry had mostly complied with the Five Year Plan, its ambitions were far from being achieved, he warned.
“One of the major pressures we face, in terms both of food security and of national production, is the demographic factor”, said Correia. “This will also determine the effectiveness and efficiency of public intervention in the agricultural sector, and so this factor must not be forgotten”.
As for agricultural extensionists, Correia admitted that they have been receiving their wages “irregularly”, and this has affected their performance.
He blamed the new Unified Wage Table (TSU) for the problems, but guaranteed that his sector is doing all it can to regularize the situation.
Correia stressed that means must be found to ensure that Mozambican agriculture can be sustainable, not only financially and economically, but also in human terms so as to create better conditions for farmers.
The three day planning meeting brings together some 300 leading agricultural figures from across the country to assess the performance of the sector over the past five years.
(AIM)
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