Mozambique Country Report Launch

The 2021 TASAI Mozambique Country Report summarizes the findings of the TASAI study conducted in Mozambique in 2020 by the TASAI team and two local seed industry experts. The results highlight some positive developments since the last TASAI study in 2017. However, inadequate financial resources and weak seed policy implementation continue to hinder the country’s efforts to meet the needs of smallholder farmers. As illustrated across the five TASAI study categories, Mozambique’s road to formal seed sector development requires greater investment. 

In terms of research and development, over 90% of Mozambique’s active breeding efforts for maize, rice, cowpea, and soya bean seed were carried out by public institutions in 2020. Even though maize constituted the focus crop with the most seed varieties released between 2018 to 2020, none of its varieties had climate-smart features. Mozambique benefits from accessing and releasing varieties that are regionally harmonized in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Catalogue. When looking at the level of seed industry competitiveness, the number of active seed companies increased for all focus crops between 2016 and 2020. Much of this increase can be attributed to the Millennium Development Goal 1C (MDG1c) Program as well as SUSTENTA, the government-led seed subsidy program. Findings suggest that the seed markets for all four focus crops became more competitive from 2016 to 2020.

Like many of its African counterparts, Mozambique’s seed policy environment is guided by laws, regulations, and procedures that are in place, though not formally operationalized. For instance, despite being established in 2014, the decree on the protection of new plant varieties (Decree nº 26/2014) is still awaiting approval by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MADER) legal officer. Additionally, evidence in the report suggests that seed breeders and seed companies consider the country’s variety release process, counterfeit seed eradication efforts, and government subsidy program (SUSTENTA) to be “fairly” satisfactory.

Despite the challenges illustrated in the previous categories, Mozambique’s seed sector has improved in terms of institutional support and service to smallholder farmers. From 2016 to 2020, seed companies’ ratings for the Association for the Promotion of the Seed Sector (APROSE) increased between 5 to 22 percentage points across all performance areas. Seed companies saw many ways that APROSE could be more valuable to its members. Finally, the number of extension officers increased significantly between 2016 and 2020, suggesting that agricultural technologies and expertise have become more accessible to agricultural households.

The report was published following a successful dissemination meeting in Maputo, Mozambique on July 13, 2022, where findings were validated and discussed by members of Mozambique’s public and private seed sectors.