Correia slams ‘industry of misery and poverty’
Agriculture minister forces Graça’s FDC into an apology, though ‘three meals a day’ remains a big stretch
As expected, minister Celso Correia used all weapons at his disposal today to show he was right to claim that 90% of the Mozambican population are ‘food secure’.
In early March, visiting the Rome headquarters of UN food organisations FAO and WFP, he boasted that 90% of Mozambicans can have three meals a day, a statement that provoked a major outcry in civil society organisations and opposition parties. Most of the criticism came from respected NGO the Community Development Foundation (FDC), headed by Graça Machel. FDC questioned how can a Mozambique have three meals a day when they live off MZN56.50 ($0.89) per day.
Today, Correia brought a 52-page study by the Food and Nutritional Security Technical Secretariat (SETSAN) to present to an audience of international partners, journalists and TV commentators, academics, NGOs and peasants’ associations.
The study, carried out in 94% of Mozambique’s 151 districts and covering 12,890 families, states that 90% of the Mozambican population is able to cover its calorific needs in the post-harvest period. However, 38% of Mozambicans do so by resorting to emergency means — hardly the famous “three meals a day”. 10% are suffering acute food insecurity.
Correia’s main target was the FDC statement. He demolished the arguments presented by FDC, bringing in the fact that FAO and WFP technicians were part of the SETSAN study. “A peasant does not have 56.5 meticais to buy food,” Correia said. “He consumes the food he produces.” On the offensive, the minister told the audience that he went to Rome to change the paradigm of a country “with its hand extended, asking for aid”. “Do not count on me to support the industry of misery and poverty”, he said, suggesting FDC was part of that.
He accepted that there are elements which could change the conclusion, including the time of year when research is done, since there a big difference between a full barn and a barn at the peak of the dry season; also questions over the nutritional and cultural elements that make up a meal, and even the concept of “three meals a day”. “We have said a person has the possibility of three meals a day, not that the person has three meals a day,” he said.
An FDC representative acknowledged some of the data used in their document was not accurate, pledging to continue to work with MADER and the government of Mozambique. He also apologised at the meeting for the FDC’s position.
But it remains to be seen if Correia’s arguments will convince the population at large. As a sociologist argued this week in the wake of the popular display of mourning over Azagaia, the government these days attracts such discredit in its initiatives that even good news is seen as suspicious.
This is Correia’s next battle. To prove his arguments have a solid grounding in rural Mozambique where 70% of Mozambicans live a life of daily poverty, and don’t recognise a victorious narrative.
Agenda:
Today: The association of European entrepreneurs in Mozambique, EUROCAM, will hold a press conference at 4pm at its offices in Maputo to discuss some concerns around the Economic Acceleration Package
Today: President Nyusi to address the nation regarding natural disasters, on a trip to Zambezia province (see Live Blog section)
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