Mozambique maintains the production pattern of the colonial period in agriculture, exporting more cash crops and importing more food, a paradigm that makes the country vulnerable to external shocks in essential goods, says a study presented yesterday in Maputo.

"We still have the challenge of changing the way Mozambique's economy has been structured to serve colonial interests," said Constantino Marrengula, an economist and researcher, who released on Wednesday the "Study on the political economy of the agriculture sector", prepared by the Institute of Social and Economic Studies (IESE) of Mozambique, an independent research institution.

Cited by Lusa, Marrengula said that national production of cotton, tobacco, cashew nuts and sugar outstrips that of food, which is mainly supplied by imports.

"We have become more vulnerable, because we are not managing to produce and increase resources in the production of foodstuffs," Marrengula emphasized.

According to Constantino Marrengula, the fact that the Mozambican state's budget deficit is financed by international partners, cash crops generate immediate income and imports ensure profits for private interests with influence over the political leadership can help explain the production model followed in the country's agriculture.

"The interests that revolve around food imports have to be taken into account," in the influence they exert on low domestic production and "on the choices of the government and donors," the researcher stressed.

Marrengula pointed out that the priority given to export crops is also noticeable in the allocation of public resources, which are mostly channelled into actions aimed at maximizing gains in that type of production to the detriment of food.

"The biggest investments and resources are around these cash crops," said Marrengula.

However, the researcher warned of the risk that Mozambique's agricultural production paradigm will perpetuate poverty, because dependence on food imports makes products more expensive for the poor.

"You can't fight poverty when food becomes more expensive because it's imported," he said.