‘cantinas’ to be revitalised in Mozambique

The mapping of the national industrial park, an exercise aimed at identifying points that need investment or support intervention, is in its final phase in Mozambique, Noticias reports today.According to the Minister of Industry and Commerce, the initiative will allow the possibility of visualising the characteristics of the country’s industrial park.Speaking a few days ago in Maputo, minister Carlos Mesquita said that the process would boost the country’s industrial potential, with a focus on border areas through which many locally produced cereals pass to be traded in the market in neighbouring countries, such as Malawi.

To that end, according to the Minister, there is a need to revitalise rural ‘cantinas’  [small shops] so that trading can take place without constraint. “There are producers who are unable to place their products on the national market, and we have been talking to the large national industries that use these products as raw material, with the intention of them buying,” he said.Minister Mesquita said the executive wanted, in this five-year period, to give more emphasis to national producers, who must be recognised and compensated for the effort they make to guarantee the production of food products.

“We are creating mechanisms for the restructuring of the network of rural ‘cantinas’, being currently in line with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s agenda on improving seeds, agronomic research and increasing productivity,” Minister Mesquita said. He added that this restructuring would create jobs and boost producers’ confidence.The government recently completed preparations for a study of the establishment of industrial parks in three provinces of the country, as an incentive to production and an opportunity for the restructuring of the local economic fabric. These are the provinces of Moatize district in Tete province, Dondo district in Sofala and Báruè district in Manica.Feasibility studies are also being prepared for the establishment and development of industrial parks in other parts of the country, specifically in Mocuba, in Zambézia province.