Mozambique launches agricultural challenge with Mattei Plan

(ANSA) - IL CAIRO, 30 SET - Putting an end to the paradox of a fertile African country that has to buy back its agricultural products from its more industrialised neighbour, which often simply packages them: this is the objective of the Mattei Plan pilot project for Mozambique launched for the South African country in collaboration with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.
    The project envisages the construction of an agri-food centre that will enhance local excellence and the export of products, and will be built in Chimoio, in the province of Manica and within the so-called Beira Corridor (central Mozambique), an area that is already crucial for Italian cooperation initiatives in the agricultural sphere. Moreover, it is one of the 'potentially most productive areas of the country' in view of 'edafoclimatic' factors, i.e. the combined soil and climate conditions that in that area are 'particularly favourable to agricultural practice', the head of the AICS office in Maputo, Paolo Enrico Sertoli, explained to ANSA.
    The location in the Beira Corridor 'is of great interest for import/export, also in function of other regional initiatives (e.g. with neighbouring Zimbabwe) recently financed by our agency,' Sertoli added. The ambition of the project is to create an 'agri-food centre' that will also become an 'incubator', linking Italian technology transfer projects and, in fact, centralising all the post-harvest phases of a range of agricultural products under analysis.
    Although about 75% of the population lives off agriculture, Mozambique paradoxically imports agricultural products, which are sold abroad and then re-imported, often only packaged. The project therefore aims to create a processing, packaging, storage and distribution chain, as the cold chain in Mozambique is deficient and agricultural products are consumed locally, generating little added value.
    The agreements (the executive and financial ones) of the Mattei Plan for Mozambique were signed during the Southern Africa mission of the AICS system last July, the local head of the Agency recalled. "An initial technical study is currently underway to present options for the location of the Centre, produce the Business Plan, analyse the production chains and outline a rough 'layout' of the infrastructure," Sertoli pointed out.
    There are no official forecasts for the realisation of the initiative, although - ANSA has learned - it is estimated that it could take about a year and a half from the start of construction work, under the direct responsibility of the so-called 'Contracting Station', in practice the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Mozambique, a country where general elections are to be held on 9 October. The financial commitment, considerable by the standards of cooperation in the agricultural sphere, is 38 million euro in total, of which 3 million in donations (managed directly by the AICS office in Maputo and with which the technical, agronomic and then engineering studies are being carried out) and 35 million granted on concessional terms (aid credit) thanks to a direct financial agreement between Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and the Mozambique Ministry of Economy and Finance.