Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Mafavuka Chicken Production Centre was inaugurated on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by the minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Celso Correia, and Secretary of State for the Province of Maputo, Vitória Diogo.
The production facility will ultimately have 12 pavilions, each with the capacity to house 56,000 chicks per breeding cycle. So far, only two pavilions have been built, each with the capacity to produce 500 tons of chicken per year.
To boost agricultural production in Maputo province, 13 tractors were delivered after the inauguration, along with 150 motorbikes for an equal number of rural extension workers, who on the occasion took an oath to help producers in the districts to which they were allocated. All are part of the SUSTENTA project.
In his intervention, Celso Correia said that the government was determined to combat chicken smuggling, emphasising that there were efforts at central and local levels to this end.
At a time of uncertainty caused by Covid-19, the government official was pleased to note that national production was increasing.
“We are currently witnessing an increase in production of around 16.6 percent, compared to the same period last year. The big challenge is the availability of feed, but even so, the sector is registering improvements. Smuggling is one of the constraints on the sector’s growth in the country and we are sensitive to this scenario,” he noted.
In another development, the minister revealed that Maputo province would have more rural extension workers.
“Before there were just over 90, and now there is an increase in staff of over 100 percent. Thanks to this training work, the country will have over 2,000 extension workers in the next agricultural campaign, which will help efforts to increase production and productivity.”
In turn, Higest Moçambique CEO Mário Couto , speaking on behalf of the company which owns the broiler production unit, highlighted that the investment was only possible with the help of the government.
“We were challenged to increase the production of chickens. We wish to praise the fight against smuggling that the government has been strengthening through its institutions as a means to protect national production.”
Couto highlighted the role of the bank which, despite the difficult environment, believed in the Ingest project and helped finance the establishment of the infrastructure to the extent of 100%.
The Mafavuka Chicken Production Centre is budgeted at US$10 million, and is expected to increase domestic chicken production by around 15%.
By
Raul Massingue
