Mozambique’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Higino Francisco de Marrule said the production of seed cotton in the 2017/2018 earned hiis country about $25 million, benefiting some 219,000 Mozambican families, APA can report on Saturday.
According to the official, this figure is the result of a cultivated area of 181 thousand hectares, which resulted in the production of 66 thousand tons of cotton,
Higino Francisco de Marrule made made the announcement at the opening session of the national minimum price of this crop of income in the western city of Tete on Saturday.
The meeting, which is held under the theme “Promoting Cotton Technological Research to Increase Productivity in the Face of Climate Change,” is attended by members of the National Forum of Cotton Producers, Cotton Association of Mozambique, producers, administrators members of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
“Cotton is a factor that drives the development of our country by improving the quality of life of the population and a factor for the production and diversification of agricultural products and generation of national wealth,” said Marrule.
He explained that the production of 66 thousand tons of seed cotton corresponds to a growth of around 56 percent, compared to three previous campaigns.
“We want to praise the effort made by the subsector in the campaign that has just ended. We urge it to continue concentrating energy to raise production levels, placing Mozambique on the map of the largest producers of this fiber, “he added.
The Minister said that the phenomenon “EL NINO” is expected to occur and, for this campaign 2018/2019, a production of 60,000 tons of lump cotton is planned, involving 170 thousand production families. an area of 100 thousand hectares.
Marrule said that this figure falls short of the wishes of the government authorities. “However, we call for continued efforts to increase productivity and production so that the country uses the maximum installed ginning capacity of 300,000 tonnes of seed cotton per year,” he said.
To this end, it recommends the use of soil and water conservation techniques, the adoption of components of conservation agriculture, short-cycle varieties tolerant to drought and diseases, as well as other measures to mitigate the impact of climate change.
CM/as/APA