Gaps and Opportunities for Agricultural Sector Development in Mozambique

Mozambican agriculture has been changing in the post-war period. This paper seeks to assist the development of new strategies for agricultural development, especially crop production investments, in the light of population, nutrition, poverty, agroclimatic, and other considerations. As requested by the Rockefeller Foundation, who funded this study, the document identifies the key leverage points and gaps to fill in research, extension, and institutional development (in the broad sense of the word) to enable both growth and poverty reduction. The focus is on agricultural systems, and does not include an assessment of livestock, another important subsector. A key objective was to enable decision makers to have access to documents and analysis currently only available in Portuguese, as well as to bring together the information from various sectors. The field research in Mozambique was conducted in June and July of 2002, with document completed in March 2003. The conclusions emphasize the gains from investing in the main staples of maize and cassava, as well as potential new cash crops. The center and north of the country have the highest potential for both reducing poverty and improving livelihoods with agricultural investments. Strategies that link new crop production technologies to processing and markets would generate the potential highest impact