About USD 16.5 million is available to finance agricultural projects throughout the country. The funds are from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which will be managed by Absa Bank Mozambique.

Poor financing for agricultural projects in the country remains one of the main constraints to the development of the value chain, and it was under this focus that the U.S. government and the financial institution signed, this Tuesday, an agreement for the financing in question.

According to "O País", in total there are about 30 projects that could be covered during the next six years. These projects must have the capacity to produce to meet the country's internal needs.

By the way, the director of Corporate and Investment Banking of Absa Bank Mozambique believes that the lines of credit to be channeled in the value chain, may increase the production and productivity of food goods, which in turn will make it possible to reduce, for example, the import of food goods.

"This financing has the potential to support the growth of the agricultural sector, because by increasing the financial capacity of producers, their income will also increase significantly," said Bernardo Aparicio.

According to Aparício, the new line of financing has the particularity of also prioritizing agricultural projects managed by women, in the scope of their development program at the socio-economic level.

To join the funding, the interested parties will have to meet all the criteria such as the conception of viable projects, capable of developing the sector, especially those that can contribute to the reduction of product imports and that involve various players in the value chain.

"We know that the agricultural sector accounts for 23% of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and a large part of the workforce, and in each of these projects, there are at least 300 or 500 people involved. So the impact is bigger," he said.

USAID director Helen Pataki, meanwhile, said that the fund should be able to generate more jobs in rural areas and that the products to be generated can be exported for the good of the local economy. The officer also focused her speech more on the financial empowerment of women.

"We would like to emphasize our joint concern to increasingly involve rural women and women entrepreneurs in accessing credit, but also to provide more opportunity for them to participate in productive and income-generating activities," Helen Pataki stressed.

The initiative has a duration of six years and the amounts to be disbursed vary between USD 50,000 and USD 3 million.