A consortium formed by the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio (LAP) and the Mozambican company Ubuntu SA have launched a $30 million project to raise rice production in the southern province of Maputo, reports the official Mozambique News Agency on Saturday.

The “Bela Vista-Rice Project” will to be implemented within the next five years and initially rice will be grown in an area of nine hectares, with an expected annual harvest of 40,000 tons of rice.

Of this amount, $10 million will be used to build a new processing plant and storage silos. The project is due to start by the end of this month.

AIM quotes Filipe Gago, LAP’s representative as saying that in the third year of operations, the project will be able to meet at least 20 per cent of Mozambique’s needs.

”During the first phase we will focus on mechanized rice production on an area covering nine thousand hectares. We are going to do some research and test a number of rice seeds varieties to get the best yields,” said Gago.

”We are working to reduce within three years imports of rice in Mozambique, particularly in Maputo, and meet the needs by 20 percent,” he added.

Mozambique imports at least 315,000 tons of rice a year to meet its domestic needs of around 600,000 tons.

Investors expect that the project will reduce Mozambique’s dependence on food aid and imports of rice, unemployment, malnutrition and improve food security, boost economic activity, among others.

Mozambique has a huge potential for the production of rice in the irrigation schemes of Matutuine, Maputo province, Chókwè in southern province of Gaza, Nicoadala in the central province of Zambezi and Nguri in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

Source African Press Agency

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