The Sustenta program, which envisages achieving food self-sufficiency by 2030, has already begun to show satisfactory results. One of the examples is the current rice harvest in Gaza province.

The new technologies, seeds and fertilizers used in rice production have allowed for greater efficiency and fewer losses. If this trend prevails, it is possible that before 2030 the country will be self-sufficient in rice.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Celso Correia, advanced this information on Monday, at the Regadio do Baixo Limpopo, in Chicumbane, Gaza province at the launch of the rice harvest for the 2021⁄2022 agrarian campaign.

″The dream of turning Gaza into a reference for rice production is beginning to come true because of its weight in the national food supply," he said.

The main rice production areas in Mozambique are the irrigated areas of Lower Limpopo and Chókwè and the Zambeze valley region.

For the current campaign, the country expects to produce about 239 thousand tons of rice, which corresponds to an increase of 15% compared to the previous crop. In the last crop season, Mozambique produced 207,000 tons of rice, representing an increase of 19%, compared to the previous season when 175,000 tons was achieved.

In the case of Gaza province, there was an increase in cultivation of five thousand hectares and an average yield of rice culture in the "Sustenta" implementation areas, which rose to seven tons per hectare against the national average of one ton.

Cereal imports cost the country about $600 million in 2021, and half that amount was spent on rice alone.

The country consumes about 500,000 tons of rice, of which 60% is imported. The elaboration of the national rice production program is in progress.