by Simangaliso Ncube
The call to reconstruct the economy of Mozambique has been answered by a unique kind of investors from South Africa — the Afrikaner commercial farmers – who are interested in the country’s agricultural sector.
Early this year, members of the Transvaal and Free State agricultural unions, led by General Const and Viljoen, leader of the Freedom Front, took a team of 10 agricultural experts to meet with the Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano. They presented their proposal to invest in a huge range of agricultural activities such as production of food crops, livestock, setting up food processing industries, exploiting forestry resources and engaging in tourist operations. The farmers describe their scheme as the “Marshall
Plan” for southern Africa
Plans to finance the scheme are being developed. The Mozambican Minister of Agriculture, Agostinho do Rosario, has been reported to have confirmed plans to establish a new farmers’ bank, the Mosagrius Development Bank. The bank will have an initial capital of US$9 million of which 74 percent will come from the South African Chamber for Agriculture in Africa while the other 26 percent will come from the Mozambican side.
The South African farmers secured permission from the Mozambican government for the first group of farmers to settle in the country before the onset of the 1996/1)7 agricultural season. This group will consist of 30 farmers who will directly head to the northern part of Niassa province, to inspect the land that will be made available to them.
“Chissano has indicated to me that he is desperate to have grain production start in the spring, because the food situation in that country is desperate,” says Viljoen.
Indeed there is a food crisis in Mozambique, a case that is not isolated from the scenario in most southern
African states which were this year hit by yet another severe drought in three years.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s Harare-based Regional Early Warning Unit
(REWU), reports that while Mozambique’s maize output this year increased by 27 percent over that of the 1993/1)4 season, over 1.5 million people will need food aid until the next harvest in 1996.
Among the most affected by food shortages are people living in the Tete province and some southern parts of the country. In these areas, rains were inadequate and huge numbers of returnees further strained the local food supplies.
However, the country has a potential to be self-sufficient should all the arable land be fully utilized. The
South African Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aziz Pahad, says, “1et’s face it – Mozambique has got an amazingly rich capacity for agricultural diversity.”
Pahad fully supports the South African farmers’ scheme in Mozambique and adds that, “ … anything that happens in Mozambique has a knock-down effect on us. We have to help them recover from the war years.”
Estimates say that between two and four million landmines are littered across the country, forcing many people to abandon their traditional agricultural activities and remain in towns while de-mining continues.
The area that has been set aside for the first group of South African farmers is in Niassa, the largest and least densely populated of Mozambique’s 11 provinces. Much of Niassa is very fertile and unlike some southern parts of the country, is not prone to drought spells.
An agreement between Mozambique and South Africa concerning the agricultural investment venture will only be signed after the first farmers have surveyed the land being made available and both sides are satisfied with the arrangement. Viljoen has denied the farmers are immigrants, and says they will supply technical assistance to Mozambican farmers.
Some critics in Mozambique have shown their displeasure to the whole concept of allowing South African farmers to invest in the country. Antonio Palange, the secretary-general of the Democratic Union, an opposition coalition party that has nine seats in Mozambique’s parliament, views the move as. “… a gesture of thanks because Mandela sent T-shirts, skirts and helicopters for last year’s election campaign of the ruling Frelimo Party.”
In reaction to such sentiments, Mozambique’s Planning and Finance Minister, Tomas Salomao hit back at the opposition which has denounced the project before it even starts. “Too many phantoms are being imagined. The real disgrace for Mozambique was not inviting South African farmers in, but the fact that what is potentially a rich agricultural country is always begging donors for food aid: says Salomao.
He pointed out that at present, huge sums of money are spent on food imports that include basics such as tomatoes, onions and potatoes from Swaziland and South Africa. He gave this as an example that would be ideal to invert once South African farmers settle in the country, and thus reduce dependence on imported basic foodstuffs.
Salomao sees more advantages than shortfalls to the whole project. Through an investment of this nature, the country could become a producer and exporter of agricultural goods. “These investors are coming here to work, to produce, to generate wealth, to create jobs and I am sure there are Mozambican investors who will benefit from the presence of these farmers,” adds Salomao.
The South African farmers on the other hand are convinced the arrangement is to their advantage. Some top agricultural administrators in that country have confirmed that thousands of farmers are prepared to leave their drought-stricken farms to farm elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.
Transvaal Agricultural Union President, Dries Brewer, says only four percent of South Africa had high agricultural potential compared to Mozambique’s 36 percent. Statistics show that there is a surplus of 60 000 farmers with expertise but no land to till in South Africa.
Other than Mozambique, there are about 14 other African states that have invited South African farmers to come and invest in their agricultural sectors. These countries are Angola. Burundi, Chad, Congo, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Cote d’Ivoire, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire and Zambia. (SARDC).
