FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 02/02 - MOZAMBIQUE (4 February)
Dry weather throughout the country during January, except in the extreme north, stressed the 2002 cereal crops, to be harvested from May.
Prices of maize, which increased immediately after the harvest in mid-May, have continued to rise. Higher increases have been reported in the northern provinces; in Nampula the average price of maize by mid-December had risen more than 300 percent from its level at the beginning of the marketing year. At the current levels, prices are well above those of last year. The increase in prices mainly reflects strong demand from neighbouring Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe where production decreased significantly in 2001. In general, access to food by the poor and vulnerable groups has become restricted by the prevailing high prices of maize, the main staple in the country.
In the southern provinces of Maputo, Gaza and Inhambane, where the 2001 harvest was reduced for the second consecutive year, the food situation is difficult. Emergency food aid is being distributed to 172 000 vulnerable people in these provinces until the next harvest from April.