Africa-Press – Cape verde. The volume of banana exports by Mozambique, one of the 30 largest producers in the world, fell in 2023 to 32.3 million dollars (30.2 million euros), the lowest value in more than six years.
According to data from the Bank of Mozambique that details the volume of the country’s exports, this performance compares with the volume of 41.4 million dollars (38.7 million euros) in 2022, practically identical to that of 2021, while in 2017 this export generated 32.8 million dollars (30.6 million euros).
Mozambican businesspeople warned of the possibility of a shortage of agricultural products in the south of the country in the coming weeks, due to the consequences of successive floods, therefore admitting rising prices and pointing out difficulties in the banana sector.
“We will try to manage it in the best way possible with the ministry and also with the institutions that carry out monitoring so that this does not happen. But they know that it is a reality and it is difficult to escape what is reality. The scarcity of products always brings this situation,” the vice-president of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA) recently said at a press conference in Maputo.
Maria Assunção Abdula gave the example of the banana sector, in which revenues for 2024 “are already highly compromised”: “Due to excessive rains and winds that, in addition to causing direct damage, the fall of plants and the compromise of their shoots (…) are also causing the emergence of many pests”.
The province of Maputo, and other regions in the south, have been affected in the last month by successive rains and strong winds, which caused several floods, affecting several activities. In 2021, this province alone had 22 private companies dedicated to banana production, with 80% of production exported to other African countries, according to data from the Mozambican Government.
In 2021, that province in southern Mozambique guaranteed the production of 249,829 tons, in an area of 5,141 hectares. Of these, 4,719 hectares were exploited by private commercial companies and the remainder by small producers, mostly from the family sector.
“Fruit production contributes 3.9% to the overall valued production of Agriculture, in this part [Maputo] of the country. This sector is one of the largest generators of direct employment in the agricultural sector, with an average of 1.3 workers/hectare, which means around 6,100 direct jobs and 11,000 indirect jobs, totaling around 17,100 workers”, refers in the same information from Government, with data from 2021.
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