He stressed that improving the quality of education went alongside increasing the number of schools. But Mocumbi also pointed out that the public administration must play a crucial role in development, and that this would not be possible unless the conditions of service improved. Mocumbi said that macro-economic stabilisation was now a fact, and that made it possible to discuss medium term prospects. Planning and Finance Minister Tomas Salomao said on 23 September, in a detailed economic briefing given to the Consultative Group. This level of poverty, blamed by Salomao on the effects of the war of destabilisation, is among the worst in Africa.
Poverty is reflected in rudimentary agricultural techniques.
Mozambican peasants have an average of 0.4 hectares of land each, or 2.4 hectares for a family of six, said Salomao. As for access to clean water, only seven per cent of Mozambicans have piped water in their homes, said Salomao. Even in the cities, this figure rises to only 30 per cent. 58 per cent have access to a man-made water source such as a well or borehole, while the other 35 per cent draw their water from rivers or lakes. Even the average distance to a market is 16 kilometres.