Harvest better than previous three years

Mozambique's food security prospects appear brighter, with national crop production expected to show an improvement on the previous three years, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). However, FEWS NET has cautioned that some southern and central parts of the country could still experience food deficits. "Although quantitative results have not been released yet, qualitive findings from the Vulnerability Assessment Committee and [the joint World Food Programme/Food and Agriculture Organisation] Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission suggest an optimistic picture of the 2003/04 agricultural season. Compared to the previous three years, overall production is expected to be fairly good," FEWS NET said. While rains were not sufficient for optimal rice production, especially in the north, maize production had been good overall, albeit with some localised failures, and sorghum was "doing very well". The assessments discovered a significant increase in both traditional cash crops, such as cotton, tobacco, and tea, and the newly introduced cash crops such as sesame, soybeans and paprika. "Cash crops are an important component of household food security, providing income to purchase essential food and non-food items," FEWS NET noted. Despite the optimistic outlook in terms of national production, the report warned that crop losses were still expected in some areas. "In the north, coastal areas received less rain than the interior areas, limiting production. In the south and centre, farmers had to plant two or three times before the rains finally set in," the report noted. The areas with the highest risk of food insecurity were the southern Tete province, the south and north of Manica and Sofala provinces, and the coastal Nampula province. Despite the harvest season progressing fairly well, the decrease in the price of maize has been less than during the same period last year. This was in part due to the later than normal harvest this year.