Saudi company to produce feed and fertilizer in Chókwè

The Saudi company Jampur Mozambique, Lda, operating in Chókwè district, in the southern province of Gaza, will produce feed to meet demand from the poultry industry and aquaculture, as part of a series of new projects it is introducing to make better use of by-products from the processing of rice, tomatoes and cashew nuts. Jampur has taken control of the Chókwè Agro-Industrial Complex (CAIC), which was once a gigantic state farm.

According to Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Notícias”, the company’s focus was on seeking market guarantees for locally produced rice, but now the businessmen of the Jampur Group want to broaden the range of investments to other projects, which include a production line for fish and poultry feed, fertilisers and supplements to improve the robustness of cattle. The expectation of this business group is to reduce dependence on imports to satisfy the local market for poultry and fish. In addition to food production and marketing, Jampur has other projects in the pipeline, namely the establishment of an industry to produce footwear and uniforms.

According to the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jampur Group, Mohammad Shafiq, at this embryonic stage of its operations in CAIC, attention is being focused on processing and marketing. He said, without giving specific figures, that there is investment in the pipeline for a range of structuring projects in the value chain of products aimed at domestic consumption and also for export.

“We are also interested in investing in the production of poultry, fertilisers and uniforms, all here in Chókwè district,” he said.

The revival of the Chókwè Agro-Industrial Complex is the result of the National Programme to Industrialise Mozambique (PRONAI), launched in 2021 by President Filipe Nyusi, with the aim of contributing to an increase in production, stimulating agro-processing, reducing the export of raw materials and generating employment and income for the family sector. According to the governor of Gaza, Margarida Mapandzene Chongo, this is the first major step that the province has taken in agro-processing and agro-business in the light of the national industrialisation programme. She said that foreign researchers had been approached during the recent presidential visit to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, which included a delegation from the Gaza Provincial Executive Council, to relaunch the portfolio of anchor projects for the Limpopo Valley production area. She emphasised that the arrival of the investors in CAIC is an added value for boosting the province’s economy and creating more job opportunities, especially for young graduates in various areas of technical and vocational education, but also for valuing the efforts of producers who have been complaining about the lack of a market for their produce.

“Work has already begun. As they are foreign investors, there is a lot of bureaucracy in the initial procedures so that they can carry out their activities to the full, but they are very confident in the collaboration of the central government and we locally have been doing our part to make this project a reality”, she said.