Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi last week inaugurated a food processing plant in the northern city of Nampula that can process 24,400 tonnes of maize a year.
He told the inauguration ceremony that maize can transform the lives of Mozambicans, not only because of its calorific value as food, but also through the agro-processing industry.
Nyusi announced that in the 2021/2022 agricultural year, maize production had risen by 30 per cent, the greatest leap in production in recent years. Production reached 2.4 million tonnes, compared with 1.8 million tonnes the previous year.
Prices of maize at the farm gate had fallen to an average of less than 11.5 meticais (about 18 US cents) a kilo, he said, "and this has been one of the main factors in stimulating investment in the agro-processing of maize in Mozambique".
Detailing the price structure, Nyusi said "in the rural areas, where the majority of the Mozambican people live, the price of a kilo of maize, after local micro-processing varies between 22 and 25 meticais. In the provincial capital, Nampula city, the average price varies between 40 and 45 meticais. In Maputo city, the average price reaches between 55 and 60 meticais a kilo".
This is the second maize processing factory to open in Nampula in the space of two years, Nyusi recalled. The first was inaugurated in Malema district in 2021, financed though the government's flagship agricultural development police, "Sustenta". The new factory cost 128 million meticais (around two million dollars).
It can process the surplus maize production from about 60,000 small producers.
No comments:
Post a Comment