Maputo, Mozambique, 28 Aug – Grain production in Mozambique totalled 2.6 million tonnes in the 2008/2009 season, a rise of 14.1 percent year on year, government spokesman and deputy education minister, Luís Covane said Tuesday in Maputo.

Based on the production achieved, the government decided to raise its target to 3.9 million tonnes of grain for the next season (2009/2010), which would represent growth of 18.2 percent.

According to Covane, during the 2008/2009 season, the country also produced 430,600 tonnes of vegetables and 9.2 million tonnes of roots, with rises of 7.9 and 8.2 percent, respectively, against the previous season.

Covane said that the amounts harvested had resulted from adopting a number of initiatives such as expanding production areas, the initial gift of seeds, promotion of agriculture-based animal feed, amongst others.

Covane noted that grain production was rising in Mozambique, but said that a lot had yet to be done, considering the targets set in the Food Production Plan of Action for Mozambique, covering the 2008-2011 period.

The most recent figures on agricultural production showed that Mozambique only has an annual surplus of maize (75,000 tonnes) and cassava (819,000 tonnes).

However there is an annual rice deficit of 316,000 tonnes and of 467,000 tonnes of wheat, 169,300 tonnes of potatoes, 24,000 tonnes of chicken and 54,000 tonnes of fishing products. (macauhub)