Maputo — Mozambican rice production in the 2009 harvest has risen to 260,000 tonnes, a 37 per cent increase on the 2008 figure of 190,000 tonnes, reports Thursday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias". A preliminary report on this year's harvest, divulged on Wednesday in Mocuba, in the central province of Zambezia, by Agriculture Minister Soares Nhaca, says that this improvement was thanks to government investments to increase the production of rice in order to reduce imports.

The investments went on the purchase of improved seeds, machinery and other incentives in areas regarded as key rice producers (such as Zambezia, Sofala and Gaza provinces, and the coastal areas of Nampula).

Mozambique stepped up rice production this year to cover the deficit of this grain that has, so far, been covered with imports.

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of his Ministry's Coordinating Council, Nhaca noted that the increase of about 70,000 tonnes in rice production represents an important step for the country to reach the 400,000 tonnes that the country needs every year to cover the deficit.

Preliminary data for the first year of implementation of the government's Food Production Action Plan shows an overall growth of 14 per cent in total production of foodstuffs - much higher than the seven per cent rise recorded in 2008.

The document says that production of cassava, a staple food in much of the country, rose from 6.6 million tonnes in the 2004/2005 agricultural campaign to 8.4 million tonnes in 2007/2008, and it is expected to attain 9.2 million tonnes in the present campaign.

Nhaca said that many factors have contributed to this increase, including the rise in the number of rural extensionists from 590 in 2007 to 671 this year, assisting 354,000 farmers now, compared with 177,000 in 2005.

Other factors include the introduction of new agricultural technologies, support for marketing and the building of public and private silos for the conservation of produce.