Mozambique: Tobacco Should Not Replace Food Production

Source from:  Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique 08/16/2013

The cultivation of tobacco should not replace food production on peasant fields, warned Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday.

Speaking at a meeting with representatives of civil society organisations in Furancungo, capital of Macanga district, in the western province of Tete, Guebuza argued that a cash crop such as tobacco should be viewed as a complementary activity, and the production of a surplus of food crops remained fundamental for household food security, and for poverty reduction.

At the meeting, attended by religious and community leaders, businessmen and representatives of peasant associations, cases of unjust practices by the company Mozambique Leaf Tobacco (MLT) were denounced. MLT is the company that provides peasant farmers with inputs, such as fertilizer. It purchases their tobacco, which is then processed at the MLT factory in Tete city.

Relations between MLT and the farmers have deteriorated, because MLT is allegedly confiscating reserves of fertiliser which the peasants have been using on their food crops.

Peasant representatives argue that this is completely unjust, because they have used the money from the sale of tobacco to buy their own fertilizer. MLT, imagining that this is fertilizer supplied by the company, then seizes it. The farmers argue that this is the cause of pockets of hunger in Macanga district, despite its excellent conditions for agricultural production.

Guebuza did not promise immediate corrective measures. He said that his part of the battle is to work to show that Macanga needs investment - but investors should work with the local population to create more employment in an environment of harmony.

As for the repeated call by the participants at the meeting that there should be no return to war, Guebuza stressed that resorting to military means is no solution. Where differences exist they should be solved in line with the country's Constitution, which contains the rules to be followed for resolving disputes, he said.

"Our Constitution has the great merit that it incorporates the Rome Accord (the 1992 agreement between the government and the Renamo rebels which ended the war of destabilisation)", he added. "The agreements reached at Rome were included in the Constitution".

Peace and freedom, he continued, should never call into question the unity of Mozambicans, or the territorial integrity of the country.

Localities, administrative posts, districts and provinces are part of the same organism, just as arms and legs are part of the same human body (Guebuza was indirectly referring to threats by Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama to divide Mozambique into two or more parts).

"We are all important", he said. "Each one of our provinces is of great value to the country, and each one of the localities and administrative posts is where they are so that the country can develop. The country does not live without them". Enditem