Speaking in the town of Namialo, at the end of a two-day working visit to Nampula, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi declared that overall production in the northern province of Nampula has fallen by 20 per cent because of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nyusi said, “from the analysis made here in Nampula, and because our analyses are concrete and not whitewashed, we have verified that overall production has declined by some 20 per cent in annualized terms”.
“This fall is due mainly to the decline in activity in the transport and communications sector by 27 per cent, in manufacturing industry (11 per cent), energy and lubricants (67 per cent), construction and assembly (78 per cent), and mining (86 per cent)”, he added,
But the basis of the Nampula economy remains agriculture and livestock, and Nyusi called for a re-orientation of efforts towards the most profitable cash crops, such as sesame, cashew nuts, cotton and pigeon peas, but without neglecting food crops.
Nyusi stressed the need “to increase household incomes to improve living standards”, and that would require diversifying production. Without a decent income, people could not be expected to deal with health and nutritional problems.
Nyusi called for an unrelenting fight against corruption, which he described as a phenomenon that holds back the development of the country. Without a fight against corruption, “development will stop”, he warned.
“An investor comes to the country”, he said, “but the documents needed are delayed because there are those who are promoting corruption. People are corrupted because there are others who are corrupting them”.
The president described the terrorist attacks in the neighbouring province of Cabo Delgado as “a war without equal that is being waged against Mozambique”.
Nampula is affected because it is sheltering many thousands of people who have fled from the war in Cabo Delgado. He warned that the terrorists would try to recruit young people in Nampula.
Nyusi urged the local authorities in Nampula “to exercise greater control over young people who might be susceptible to recruitment to the ranks of the terrorists”.
