Mozambique agriculture still mostly for subsistence

Agricultural activities in Mozambique are still 99.9 percent subsistence farming on a small and medium scale, according to figures from the 2009/2010 Agri-Livestock Census published Tuesday in Maputo.

The figures, which were published by Mozambique’s National Statistics Institute (INE), also showed that of all the country’s farms just 1.8 percent use ploughs and 1.6 percent use tractors.

Cited by daily newspaper Notícias the figures showed that in terms of farmed area there had been growth of 45.6 percent over 10 years, from 3.8 million hectares to 5.6 million hectares and 57 percent of small and medium-sized farms were taken up with basic food crops.

The same figures showed that the level of arable land use is still very low as the 5.6 million hectares of land that are worked account for just 15.6 percent of the 36 million hectares that are available.

The census showed that there are around 1.3 million cattle, 4 million goats and 24 million chickens in Mozambique and just 5.4 percent of farms breed cattle whilst 61 percent raise chickens.

The 2009-2010 census is part of the 2008-2012 Strategic National Statistics Plan (SEN) approved by the Higher Statistics Council and on the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) recommendations.

The data was collected in two stages, the first of which from January to November of 2010 across the country, and also covering the city of Maputo for the first time.

The second phase was carried out from April to May 2011 in just four provinces of southern Mozambique where production figures were collected that are now being analysed by the Agriculture Ministry. (mozahub)

Mozahub