Traditional farming practices, low-yield seed types, and manual cultivation techniques all contribute to poor agricultural production because of a lack of relevant technology and agricultural machinery. Unfortunately, smallholder farmers often lack easy access to markets. In rural areas, women face unique challenges. They are far less likely to complete high school than males and hence have fewer job-related abilities. There is a high rate of maternal mortality due to the lack of proper medical treatment.
Women in rural areas often play significant roles in farming and economic generation. However, they have limited opportunities to influence or even access productive resources. Natural calamities, such as droughts and floods, often strike the southern and central regions of Mozambique, where many of the country’s poorest people live. Due to their reliance on agriculture for income, disadvantaged populations are put at risk when natural disasters strike.
Challenges for the agricultural sector
Mozambique’s agriculture is mostly dominated by poor, small-scale farmers who produce primarily for subsistence, despite continuous attempts to reform the industry and attract foreign direct investment. Most of these farmers do not have access to resources that might help them increase production and incomes, such as productive assets, agricultural financing, new technology, agricultural machinery and markets. Both the lack of automation and the continued reliance on conventional farm implements are stifling agricultural output and efficiency.
Many farmers nowadays still rely on traditional tools, such as hand hoes and ox-drawn equipment, to do their daily work. Inputs such as fertilizer, insecticides, improved varieties, and other forms of capital investment are underutilized mostly because of their high prices, limited availability in local markets, and the lack of understanding among farmers about how to best put the agricultural machinery to use. The majority of the country’s fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation are used in the Midwest and South.
Underutilization of both irrigable land and existing irrigation infrastructure is another big issue. Sugarcane and other export cash crop farms from other countries make extensive use of the irrigation system. Since rain is used for much of the country’s food production, it is very sensitive to weather and climate-related disasters. It is primarily the absence of a good road system that has prevented the development of robust input and output markets. Reduced market access and higher transportation costs for farmers are a direct result of the state of the roads.
Lack of easy access to financial services is a major barrier to the adoption of new technology, agricultural machinery and the upkeep of capital-intensive agricultural techniques, especially in rural farming areas. The high degree of exposure, sensitivity, and susceptibility of the nation to extremely unpredictable weather and climate-related disasters, especially droughts and cyclone-induced floods, is perhaps the biggest challenge to the agricultural industry.
Slow Pace of Technology Diffusion
Low Internet penetration is a contributing factor to the sluggish rate of technology adoption in Mozambique’s agriculture industry. Although some rural residents claim to have access to the Internet, most rely on mobile broadband that is only 2G or 3G fast, which is inadequate for most online activities. Innovations are not reaching individuals who may benefit the most because they lack the resources necessary to take advantage of them, such as knowledge about available technology that could increase crop yields and the bandwidth to use them.
Yet another, and possibly more significant, the barrier to the spread of technology is the existence of agricultural policies and environments that make the use of technology unpleasant for farmers. New technologies are adopted by producers when they provide a low-cost solution to a pressing issue in production. Many producers, however, draw the conclusion that the dangers of the new technology exceed the potential rewards because of limits unique to their operations. The price of the technology itself, inadequate training on how to utilize the technology, limited access to markets, or a lack of affordable agricultural machinery and supplementary inputs all fall under this category (such as energy, water, or transportation). While current technologies (such as fertilizer and hybrid seeds) have been slow to catch on in Mozambique, the adoption of agricultural machinery and 4IR technology on the farm is also expected to be hampered by context-specific restrictions in the near future.
What can be done?
For all its progress, Mozambique still relies heavily on agriculture as a driver of economic growth. One must make strenuous efforts to improve productivity, but success is not guaranteed.
- Governments in Mozambique should maintain their investment in agricultural research and development since it yields significant returns and might be used to spur more technological adoption on the country’s farms;
- To hasten and facilitate the successful creation of high-yielding and disease-resistant seeds, donors and supporters should collaborate with research institutions to utilize technological improvements
- Programs geared specifically at farmers may be necessary because of the diversity of farmers’ circumstances and demands in areas such as land and farm management, market access, financing, value chains, and so on.
Services Provided by Tractors Mozambique
To that end, Tractors Mozambique is here to assist the country’s farmers to save a ton of money on much-needed agricultural machinery while also facilitating the development of new technological innovations in agriculture via computer-based crop information systems. In part because of Tractors Mozambique, smallholder farmers in Mozambique are less worried about physical harm coming to them. Because of the abundance of high-quality agricultural machinery, such as Massey Ferguson tractors for sale and New Holland tractors for sale, farm implements, and combine harvesters, farmers are enthusiastic about the project’s future.
Tags: Agricultural Tractors, Farm Machinery, Tractors for Sale, Tractors in Mozambique