The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), in partnership with the Austrian Cooperation, will apply this year, 10 million euros to materialize the project of technology transfer, under the program Sustenta Fruticultura, whose launch took place a few days ago, in the district of Macate, Manica province.

The objective is to develop the fruitculture market, as a response to the great waste of production due to lack of buyers. The amount will benefit three provinces, namely, Manica, Sofala and Inhambane.

This amount is intended to dynamize the fruit production chain through the integrated value addition of small farmers in the market, based on three pillars that consist of technology transfer, market linkage, and nutrition through fruit consumption.

The government and partners want to make the best use of the wasted fruit, through drying, dehydration, preserving its nutritional value and adding production values by stimulating the consumption of dried fruit and market links.

Mozambique produces about two million tons of fruit annually, and between 30 and 50% is wasted due to lack of incentives to stimulate investment in processing industries.

Fruit production is dominated by family farmers, which represents 3.9 million small farm units.

The contribution of this sector to the country's economy is only 12% in exports. Mozambique exports fruits such as litchie, mango, banana, and citrus.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Celso Correia, said at the launching ceremony of the program, that the initiative does not solve the whole problem of the fruit chain.

However, it is the beginning of the solution to the growers' difficulties in reducing post-harvest losses.

According to the Minister, within the Sustenta Fruticultura program, larger-than-existing pulp mills and marketing centers are planned and should come on line in the next few years.

"It is a path that we are beginning and it is based on the technological transformation of our agriculture sector. The process will continue under "sustenta", with various partnerships, where we will find solutions for farmers, especially in the family sector," said Correia.

"We saw in many provinces situations where growers picked the fruit and it spoiled due to lack of market or other treatment," he added.

For the ruler, with the transfer of the technology, "we can process and preserve the fruit up to a year." "This is an asset for us and encourages the producer. It's a small solution for families that by themselves can dry and preserve the fruit for a year," he maintained.

At the launch of the Sustenta Fruticultura campaign, 17 fruit drying and processing machines were delivered to as many associations in Manica province.

It is expected that, by the end of this semester, another 55 associations, throughout the country, will be covered by the program with the reception of fruit drying machines.