Multinational Mining Companies Operating in the Western Mozambican Province of Tete to Buy Foodstuffs Locally

Multinational mining companies operating in the western Mozambican province of Tete will henceforth buy foodstuffs locally, rather than importing all their food from South Africa, under an agreement signed between the companies and the Tete provincial government, state news agency AIM reported on Monday citing the Permanent Secretary of the Tete government, Albertina Tivane.

The major mining companies are Vale of Brazil and Riversdale of Australia (recently purchased by Rio Tinto) which both have giant open cast coal mines in Moatize district.

But there are a further 141 companies who have mining exploration licenses in Tete.

Tivane said the government has established a relationship between small local agricultural producers and the mining companies.

“It doesn’t make sense to import potatoes and onions from South Africa, if we produce plenty here but have problems in finding a market for it”, she said.

“This agreement will facilitate a market for the producers and provide products for potential buyers,” she said.

According to AIM, Tivane added that the mining companies have promised to finance the opening and rehabilitation of access roads leading to fertile agricultural parts of the province.

Farmers are likely to increase the area under cultivation, if they can move their goods on a decent road to a guaranteed market.

“There is a lot of agricultural production in Tsangano, Maravia, Angonia, Chiuta and Macanga districts, but we have serious difficulty in transporting it because the roads either do not exist or are in poor condition”, said Tivane.

“This agreement solves the problems of both the producers and the buyers”, claimed Tivane.

netnewspublisher.com