|
afrol News, 5 June - Harsh, dry weather during the cropping season in the southern and central parts of Mozambique has left more than half a million people there facing a severe food shortage, the UN reported yesterday. Severe dry weather during the 2001/02 cropping season sharply reduced crop yields in southern and parts of central Mozambique, while cereals are abundant in the north. According to a joint report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP), some 70,050 tons of food aid will be needed between now and next April to help approximately 515,000 people facing severe food insecurity caused by drought-devastated agricultural production and the exhaustion of their coping abilities over the past four years. The drought is concentrated to the southern and central parts of Mozambique. In contrast, the report notes that abundant and well-distributed rains in the main cereal growing areas of the northern region and remaining parts of the central region of Mozambique led to an increased production of cereal crops there. Overall, the 2002 cereal output is estimated at 1.77 million tonnes, 5 percent above last year, and maize output at 1.24 million tonnes, an increase of 8 percent. "Exportable maize surplus in northern and central areas is projected at 100 000 tonnes," the report says. However, the "high internal transport costs make it uncompetitive to move the maize from the north to the deficit areas of the south," compared with imported South African grain. In the centre and south, high prices of maize in local markets "are seriously undermining household food security for a significant section of the population." For the most affected households, alternative sources of income are limited. Forestry-based products face increasing scarcity of resources, and employment in South Africa has also been dwindling. Families that have lost all or most of their crops have exhausted their stocks (even those necessary for seed) and are already depending on "distress sales of livestock." The affected population numbers about 15 percent of the total population of the southern and central regions but less than 3 percent of the country's total population, the report says. - Emergency agricultural inputs such as seeds are urgently needed to help drought-affected farming families restart agricultural production during the upcoming planting season, according to the report. The promotion of seed multiplication and improved seed storage are recommended measures to further improve food security. With approximately 45 percent of the country, or about 36 million hectares, considered suitable for agriculture, only four percent of the total arable land is presently cultivated. The country's infrastructure was devastated by more than 15 years of civil strife, which ended in 1992. Infrastructure investments and economic reform relevant to the agricultural sector has mainly benefited export crops like cotton and cashew nuts. In the small-scale farm sector, given the low level of farming techniques, with virtually all crop land being cultivated by hand, "the prospects for substantial increases in food production are unfavourable," the report says. "Unless more land per family can be brought under cultivation and productivity increased, it will not be possible to meet the needs of the country's growing population with its rising urbanisation." Also, the current policy regarding land tenure "does not encourage long-term investment in agriculture." At present, all land belongs to the State as it was nationalized at independence. Small and commercial farmers have no permanent ownership title, and this limits their access to institutional credit. The report was compiled based on information gathered during an FAO/WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission from 21 April to 10 May.
|
