OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maputo | Monday 10.00PM.
THE agricultural development programme between Mozambique and South Africa, known as Mosagrius, has run into a serious financial crisis.
Helder Muteia, Mozambican deputy minister of agriculture and fisheries, said the 26 South African and Mozambican commercial farmers who settled in the fertile northern Mozambican province of Niassa in mid-1996 had not managed to secure funds to expand.
The farmers got an initial loan of R57000 credit by the land concessionaire, the Mosagrius Development Corporation, a joint venture between the Mozambique and the South African Chamber for Agricultural Development in Africa.
Muteia said no more farmers would be admitted into the programme until the crisis facing the 16 South Africans and 10 Mozambicans was resolved.
The deputy minister also confirmed that two South African farmers had left Niassa, but not because of the crisis. One left for family reasons and the other was expelled by the authorities because of his racist attitudes.