Cassava to be produced on a large scale in Inhambane, Mozambique
The Dutch Agricultural Development & Trading Company (Dadtco) plans to sign an agreement with the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC) aimed at large-scale production of cassava in Mozambique’s Inhambane province, according to daily newspaper Notícias.
The ceremony will take place at the Dadtco factory, established in 2002 to foster the development of the agricultural sector and marketing of agricultural products. The signing of the agreement will be the high point of the ceremony to celebrate the successful conclusion of the sale of cassava.
Dadtco, in partnership with IFDC, since 2001 has processed cassava produced by small Mozambican farmers into cassava cake, a product that is used by Cervejas de Moçambique to produce beer.
Impala beer is one of the most popular beers in Mozambique and its success required cassava cake production to double in the second half of 2014.
Currently, Dadtco gets cassava from 6,000 small farmers in Nampula and Inhambane, which injects 1 million meticais a month into the local economy.
In 2012 the IFDC, through government funding from he Netherlands, created a public-private partnership to support small cassava farmers, with the distribution of improved cassava planting material from the Mozambique Agrarian Research Institute and training of farmers in improved practices.
At first, the partnership was focused on cassava farmers in Nampula and in 2013, Dadtco began operations in Inhambane, with the purpose of popularising cassava production in the latter province.