The European Commission announced today new €67.3 million support for Mozambique to reduce hunger and chronic malnutrition and accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The new programme will help improve agricultural and fisheries production and increase access to food for vulnerable groups, in particular women and children.
This new EU funding addresses the key pillars underpinning food security – availability of food, access to food and nutritional quality. This includes improving production of smallholder farmers and fishermen, for example by providing greater access to inputs such as seeds, fertiliser or tools. Other measures aim at reducing post-harvest losses, promoting home gardens for women and vaccinating chickens (to reduce the alarming mortality rate). The project will also improve links with markets or buyers by investing in lacking small-scale infrastructure (e.g. storage), rural roads, information systems and electrification of markets, as well as supporting farmers' organizations. Nutrition education will also be part of all activities: changing people's behaviour is a key element in reducing malnutrition in Mozambique. Specific support will also be provided to the national fortification programme for vegetable oil, sugar and wheat, maize and cassava flours.
The new funding is part of the so-called "MDG initiative" of the European Commission that aims to foster progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); it is funded by a total of €1 billion. The focus lies on MDGs which risk not being attained by the deadline of 2015 and therefore need additional efforts: reducing hunger, maternal and infant mortality and improving access to water and sanitation. Mozambique is the largest beneficiary of the MDG initiative. The implementation of the programme in the country is led by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) on behalf of the government of Mozambique. The Food Security Secretariat (SETSAN) within the Ministry of Agriculture of Mozambique will closely monitor the programme and regularly report on its performance.
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