Mozambique to set up first special agricultural economic zone
Mozambique’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Celso Correia announced Thursday that the government intends to set up the country’s first special agricultural economic zone along the Limpopo Valley in Gaza province.
Starting from October in the next agricultural campaign, the initial funding to set up the zone is estimated at 8.6 million U.S. dollars and it will be developed along the districts of Chokwe, Bilene, Limpopo and Chongoene to cover an area of 100,000 hectares.
“This will mark the beginning of a new era for the Limpopo Valley under a basic principle to attract private investments, which must respect in the first place the integration of families into the productive value chain,” said the minister at a meeting to launch the Strategic Development Plan for the Lower Limpopo irrigation schemes.
The minister said the zone will help with the restructuring of the valley’s irrigation system to boost farming in the four districts, and to increase the production of rice and vegetables.
“Whenever a vision is mentioned for Limpopo Valley, our thoughts carry an ambition in the dimension of its potential, to explore as much as possible the installed capacity and increase production and productivity,” said the minister.
Farmers said during the launch that they expect the government to fund the access to agriculture inputs, to improve the current infrastructure and install processing companies. Enditem
