A cotton picker harvests cotton
The production of raw cotton in Mozambique will increase to 200,000 tons in 2020, the national director of the Mozambique Cotton Institute (IAM) said recently in Namialo, Nampula province.
Norberto Mahalambe said that this projection was based on the fact that several regions of Mozambique may start producing cotton, through the introduction of various technologies, including growing the crop in low soil moisture and based on a rain-fed system, which have proved to work in many countries, such as Argentina and Brazil.
“In practice, it will be the fulfillment of what was called for in the ten-
year program for restructuring the cotton sub-sector,” said Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias, noting that the adoption of new technologies for cotton production should begin in the next agricultural season.
Argentina and Brazil are amongst the world’s largest cotton producers and, according to the national director of IAM, it is important for production to occur in low humidity and without irrigation, which brings comparative advantages.
Mahalambe said that Argentine and Brazilian technicians were already in Mozambique to transmit their knowledge of cotton production under these conditions.
The provinces of Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane, districts of southern Tete, Manica and the coastal areas of Sofala and Nampula, which currently do not produce cotton, will join the crop’s production chain, which involves around 230,000 Mozambican families.
Mahalambe also said that with more producers growing cotton, combined with use of new techniques to improve crop yield, the country will gradually increase the amount harvested. MDT/Macauhub
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