Brazil plans to install cotton research centers in Mozambique

A worker stands amongst raw cotton in a container at a distribution warehouse

A team of researchers from Brazil has been in Tete and Manica in central Mozambique since last week to assess the possibility of installing two experimental cotton research units, reported Mozambican daily newspaper Correio da Manhã.
The team has visited the basins of the Lower Chire and Zambezi rivers to assess the possibility of installing the two units, whose construction is scheduled for the current year.
A source at the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security told the newspaper that the main aim of this project was to transfer Brazilian technology for cultivation of cotton varieties with higher yield and that are more resistant to various pests and to promote exports of agricultural equipment.
The team currently in Mozambique is part of the regional project to strengthen the cotton sector in the Chire and Zambezi basins, signed off by the Mozambican Cotton Institute (IAM) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), and in Tete province will cover the districts of Mágoè, Cahora Bassa, Moatize and Mutarara.
However, the Mozambican Cotton Institute has lowered its cotton production target for 2015, to around 98,000 tons, pointing to the heavy rains that recently shook the central and northern regions of the country as the main cause. MDT/Macauhub