Agribusiness sustainability

The chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Mozambique (CCM) has challenged commercial banks to grant agriculture credit lines at an attractive cost, so as to boost a sector which occupies 80% of the economically active population in the country. Álvaro Massingue revealed that many credit applications filed by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the agricultural sector were unsuccessful. The Chamber of Commerce therefore proposes urgent attempts to find “a cushion in an agricultural guarantee fund or in the coverage, through insurance, of the risks associated with agriculture”.Massingue also stressed the need for the government to create fiscal policies and strategies which encourage agriculture throughout all of its value chain.

“We took note with some apprehension of the introduction of yet another fee on water boreholes,” he said. “This [new fee] will have negative effects on the development of agriculture. We are therefore calling for a review of this measure, due to the impacts that it will have on business indicators.” Massingue was speaking at a webinar on the rice and tomato value chain in Mozambique organised by CCM in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Stuttgart this week. “We chose rice and tomatoes for their importance in the economy and for the fact that they constitute a raw material for boosting the associated industries, as well as for their valuable contribution to family incomes,” Massingue noted. Participants included members of the government and representatives of the private sector.