OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maputo | Monday
NEARLY 100_ 000 Mozambican families in areas affected by the devastating floods earlier this year will get a new lease of life when the country’s agricultural authorities start handing out seed kits for the coming planting season.
Already dozens of trucks loaded with seeds imported from neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe have reached the provinces affected by the floods – Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane in the south, Sofala and Manica in central Mozambique and the western province of Tete.
Authorities have already started preparing kits of maize, sorghum, millet, rice and ground-nut seeds to distribute to the families, said Joaquim Cuna, coordinator of the Emergency Operations Group in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The families are also to receive agricultural hand tools.
The largest share of the kits – 39_ 400 – will be distributed among families in Maputo province, where the Incomati, Umbeluzi, Movene and Maputo rivers devasted vast areas of farmland.
Families in Gaza province will receive 24_ 474 kits, while Sofala families will get 12_ 100 kits.
The import of seeds and tools was carried out under a contract signed by the Mozambican government and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is funding the project.
The seeds and tools will be distributed by the Mozambican non-governmental organization Kulima.
Although Kulima has yet to sign a contract with the government and FAO, it has already started sending sacks to the six provinces because it “wanted the 2000/2001 agricultural campaign to succeed.”