Mozambique: Hunger Threat Alleged in Niassa Districts

Source from:  Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo) 20 August 2008 08/22/2008

Peasant households in Marrupa and Maua districts, in the northernmost Mozambican province of Niassa, may be at risk of hunger because they have opted to grow cash crops rather than food, according to a report in the Beira daily paper "Diario de Mocambique". The paper's reporter found that one of the main warehouses in Marrupa, belonging to the consortium Export Marketing-Amoder, which would normally be full of maize at this time of year, is practically empty. The official in charge of the warehouse, Armando Amisse, said that peasant sales of maize this year were much lower than in 2007, because the peasants have been growing tobacco and sesame instead. "Since the marketing campaign began, we have only purchased 500 tonnes of maize, which is much lower than usual", he said. "I've been here for five years, and this is the first time there has been no maize". The regional director of the company Mozambique Leaf Tobacco (MLT) for Marrupa, Maua and Nipepe districts, Jose Garcia, confirmed the rise in sales of peasant tobacco. Up to last week, MLT had purchased 1,150 tonnes of tobacco from Marrupa farmers, much higher than the company's target figure for that period of 800 tonnes. He was concerned that the farmers were using the money from tobacco sales to purchase goods such as radios and bicycles rather than food. Garcia stressed that as part of its agreements with tobacco producers, MLT provides them with maize seed. The Marrupa district administrator, Felisberto Simao, recognised that maize production had fallen, but blamed it on irregular rainfall and on elephants invading peasants' fields and devouring their crops. But other members of the district government disagree with Simao. The Marrupa director of economic services, Jaulane Benzane, said there was no sign of any hunger in the district, which had produced 22,000 tonnes of maize, sorghum, millet and rice - the same as in 2007. "If they say there's hunger, then it's caused by the people themselves who don't know how to manage what they produce", said Benzane. "We also urged peasants to use some of the money from tobacco sales to buy foodstuffs. So there's no reason for alarm". In Maua too elephants are blamed for declining agricultural production. One farmer, Joao Alfredo, told "Diario de Mocambique" that elephants had destroyed virtually all his fields. Nonetheless he said he had food reserves to last until December. Again the district director of economic activities, Abilio Tome, minimized the situation. He didn't think there would be any hunger in Maua in the immediate future, since there was plenty of maize on the local market. But he admitted that, just as in Marrupa, many Maua peasants had preferred to grow tobacco rather than maize, and tobacco sales had exceeded expectations (1,222 tones by the end of July, rather than the 800 tonnes forecast). Tome admitted that this might lead to hunger, because peasants preferred to use the money to buy consumer durables rather than food. Enditem