Farmers in Mossurize district, in the central Mozambican province of Manica, have produced wheat, as requested by the government – but nobody has come to buy it from them.According to a report in the Beira daily paper “Diario de Mocambique”, last year Mossurize produced 900 tonnes of wheat, as part of the government’s drive to step up local production of this grain and reduce imports.But the baking companies, who spend huge sums on importing wheat, could not be bothered to send trucks to Mossurize to pick up the peasants’ production. To avoid complete loss of the wheat, the Mossurize district authorities took the initiative of training the farmers into how to make wheat flour and bake their own bread.The district director of economic activities, Francisco Navalha, said this did at least solve the problem of local bread shortages, and ended the import of bread from neighbouring Zimbabwe.“Today you can see small ovens in the villages where large amounts of bread and cakes are baked”, said Navalha. “Bread has now become part of the household income”.As for the present agricultural campaign, Navalha said the farmers hope to harvest some 300,000 tonnes of crops (mostly grains and beans) grown on 278,000 hectares. Since December, rains have been falling regularly, which means that the crops are in a much better condition than at the same time in 2010.Navalha said the district had received in advance 32 tonnes of improved seeds, which were distributed free of charge to peasant farmers, with the technical assistance of rural extensionists. “So far we haven’t had any pests”, he said, unlike last year, where insect pests destroyed much of what had been sown.He pointed out that the soils in Mossurize were favourable for producing wheat and many other crops. The district’s livestock potential has led to the use of animal traction with peasants using about 16,000 head of oxen to pull their ploughs.
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