Gaza Records Substantial Growth

Chokwe — The southern Mozambican province of Gaza has recorded a substantial growth in almost all sectors of activity, particularly in agriculture, trade, and transport and communications, during the last four years.

This information is contained in a report by Gaza provincial governor Raimundo Diomba presented on Tuesday, during President Armando Guebuza's visit to the province, which began in Massangena district.

The report says that total production in Gaza in 2008 was 13.3 billion meticais (about 500 million US dollars), compared with 9.6 billion meticais in 2004, which is a growth of 39 per cent, or an average growth rate of 9.75 per cent per year.

Among the sectors that contributed most to this growth were agriculture, which grew by 62 per cent, trade (20 per cent), and transports and communications (14 per cent).

During the first quarter of 2009, total production in the province was 11.2 billion meticais, compared with 3.4 billion during the same period of 2008. In the first three months of the year, Gaza produced 81.4 per cent of the target for the entire year.

According to Diomba, the growth in agricultural production during the last four years was due to the rehabilitation of small irrigation systems, the allocation of oxen for animal traction, the availability of tractors, and of other inputs, and access to funds from the Local Initiative Investment Budget (OIIL).

The growth trend can be seen in the figures for the first planting season of the 2008/2009 agricultural year, when the province produced 1.4 million tonnes of assorted crops, on an area of 363,600 hectares, almost double the target figure of 748,800 tonnes.

Greater investment by the central and the provincial governments, better rainfall this year, credit granted to the farmers, and the availability of machinery all contributed to this success.

A further reason for the good results was improvement in the coverage of rural extension services. Between 2004 and 2008, this sector grew by 266.7 per cent, and now covers all the 11 districts in the province.

According to the document, in the sector of energy, the number of electricity consumers was 49,568 in 2008, compared with 19,816 in 2004, a growth of 150 per cent. Seven districts were linked to the national electricity grid in 2008, while only four had been electrified in 2004, and the plan is to connect an eighth district to the grid by the end of this year.

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Fonte: Allafrica (11.06.2009)