From: wsargeant@igc.apc.org (Winslow L. Sargeant)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african
Subject: IPS:Mozambique, only crumbs in the bread'
Date: 23 Jul 92 18:45:25 GMT

/* Written 12:08 am  Jul 23, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "MOZAMBIQUE: ONLY CRUMBS IN THE BREA" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Reference: Agriculture
Title: MOZAMBIQUE: ONLY CRUMBS IN THE BREAD BASKET


an inter press service feature

by rachel waterhouse

gaza, mozambique, jul 20 (ips) -- mozambicans know their
southern gaza province as the ''granary'' of the nation where,
even with the drought last year, food output was still high.

but this year only crumbs seem to be on offer. the drought,
the worst in 50 years, is just one in a barnful of reasons.

the great limpopo river which runs through gaza from the
south african border is dry, almost all the way down to the
indian ocean. upstream, it snakes through the country like a
long, sandy beach.

raoul chongo, a small-scale private farmer in mabalane
district, north-west of the provincial capital, xai-xai, dug a
a three-metre hole in the river bed this year and put a pump in.
for a few hours a day, it takes water to his land on the river
bank.

lack of water means his production has halved since last
year. ''i've never seen the river so dry. maybe the gods
are angry with us, for evil and the war'', chongo told ips.

commercial farmer rhoda antonio got more than 1,000 bags of
grain from 30 ha of rice last year. this year, she planted 45 ha
but lack of rain or a pump in the right place means she only
irrigated six ha, yielding just 100 bags.

in june rebels of the mozambique national resistance (ranamo)
attacked her storehouse, stole the husked grain and tipped the
rest of it on the floor, mixing it with salt and petrol.

provincial agricultural director, raymundo cossa, says gaza
was historically deliberately chosen as mozambique's granary for
its proximity to the mozambican capital.

because of its location, the portuguese colonial rulers
installed irrigation channels from the limpopo river to cover
250,000 ha.

lack of finance and organisation means only some 40,000
ha of this have ever been used, admits cossa. in a good year,
they produce some 60,000 tonnes each of maize and rice, enough
to feed the province and to export.

so far this year, only 6,000 tonnes of rice and 700 tonnes of
maize have been harvested. last year the area produced 31,000
tonnes of rice. (more/ips)


mozambique: only (2)

gaza province is this year asking for 53,000 tonnes of maize
donations in food relief to feed more than 400,000 hungry
people.

the key problem is water shortage, but, according to cossa,
this tops a heap of other problems.

farming potential in the province has suffered badly due to
the 17-year civil war between the government and renamo.

chongo abandoned his 30 ha farm on the left bank of the
the limpopo in 1989 when renamo attacked and stole his 35
cattle and 150 goats.

deputy district administrator of mabalane district, moises
chinje, says all farmers under the government's wing are now in
refuge, squashed between the right bank of the river and the
limpopo railway line, which is protected by troops.

beyond major towns, much of the province lies deserted due
to rebel attacks. former captives escaping renamo control say
the rebels produce next to nothing, depending on theft for
survivial.

even without the war, cossa says gaza is losing the right to
its famous title.

''we already had serious management problems. we concentrated
all our attention on the irrigation system, forgetting other
zones,'' the agricultural director told ips.

''we put all our resources into direct production and
increasing the area, but ignored the need for maintenance and
services''.

shortly after mozambique's independence from portugal in
1975, the irrigation system was nationalised and put under a
highly-centralised control of huge, state-run farms.

''we didn't have the means or capacity to run such farms,''
says cossa. ''but when we realised and parcelled the land back
out to private and samll-scale farmers, we forgot that they need
services, like credit, seed supplies, transport, and management
training''.

the result has been poor production, he says. apart from rain
and an end to the war, farmers now need services and credit.

with costs already too high, antonio says commercial farmers
will need cheap, long-term credit to re-establish production
after losses from the drought, and cheap electricity to run
irrigation pumps.

''we understand consumers can't afford to pay much, but we
also need a decent price for our crops'', she says.
(end/ips/rw/apc/oa/92)