Maputo, 2 Jun (AIM) – The Mozambican government has established the minimum purchase price for seed cotton from producers at 22 meticais (around US 34 cents at the current exchange rate), which is a drop of 12 per cent compared to the previous campaign.
Over the last agricultural campaign, a kilo of top quality seed cotton cost 30 meticais (46 US cents).
According to the minister of Agriculture, Roberto Albino, who was speaking to reporters on Friday, in Maputo, during the launch of 2024-2025 agricultural campaign, for second seed cotton, the government has set the price at 15.5 meticais a kilo, compared to 17.5 meticais the previous year, a drop of 11.42 per cent.
The minister said the government will not subsidize the cotton price but “we have agreed with the cotton industry to strengthen this strategic value chain.”
“The cotton industry has around 100,000 producers who are organized into associations, who are part of a development programme that is already rooted in discipline and seriousness. They approach economic transactions within this chain and bring in more investment for diversification”, he said.
Albino claims that the government is aware that cotton farmers also produce food and other crops, and therefore “we will take advantage of this platform to use it to strengthen food production, which is our main agenda.”
He also announced that a digital platform would be introduced in the current campaign. “All the transactions under our lines of support will take place on a digital platform, to avoid informal transactions and also to regulate the credit mechanisms for inputs. So the people who are going to benefit from credits under our lines of financing must be registered on the digital platform”, he said.
(AIM)
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