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This paper reviews the latest mechanisation programme by the Mozambican government, asking how it is politically driven and how it shapes and is shaped by agrarian structures. Old ideas about agrarian dualism are reproduced today, albeit with a new language of public-private partnerships that are seen as potentially driving the modernisation of the peasantry. State-sponsored and privately-run service centres, featuring zinc roofed warehouses, are the government’s preferred route to...

Abstract: This paper is a review of the institutions and the performance of the agricultural sector in Mozambique, using an analysis table adapted to the assessment of the connections between the institutions and economic development. In the first part, information is presented on the performance of the sector between 2008 and 2017, showing a per capita reduction in productivity and the production of foodstuffs. The second part offers an analysis on the extent to which, and the way that, the...

Este artigo constitui uma revisão das instituições e do desempenho do sector agrário em Moçambique, aplicando um quadro de análise adaptado à avaliação da ligação entre as instituições e o desenvolvimento económico. Na primeira parte, apresenta-se informação sobre o desempenho do sector entre 2008 e 2017, verificando-se redução da produtividade e da produção per capita de alimentos. A segunda parte oferece uma análise sobre a medida em que, e o modo como, a evolução das instituições do...

This article develops the concept of ‘mediating bureaucrats’ by exploring their role during liberal reforms that led to rehabilitation of the sugar industry in Mozambique. By focusing on how relations between the state, government and business are mediated by a group of cadres who have occupied positions in different social domains, the article argues that these ‘mediating bureaucrats’ cannot easily be identified in one-dimensional terms as belonging to either the public or private sector,...

In the past decade, the Mozambican government has been mobilizing international capital to build and renovate transport infrastructure in the central and northern areas of the country, with the aim of creating agricultural corridors. Based on field research conducted in two districts along the Beira and Nacala corridors, I examine those occasions when international capital and national agricultural policy meet smallholders in the implementation of agricultural projects. This article offers a...

In much of Eastern Africa, the last decade has seen a renewedinterest in spatial development plans that link mineralexploitation, transport infrastructure and agriculturalcommercialisation. While these development corridors haveyielded complex results–even in cases where significantinvestments are yet to happen–much of the existing analysiscontinues to focus on economic and implementation questions,where failures are attributed to inappropriate incentives or...

Contract farming is a sales arrangement between a farmer and a firm, agreed before production begins, which provides the farmer with resources or services. Many governments and donors promote contract farming as part of agricultural development policies. However, there is serious concern whether smaller farmers can benefit from these arrangements. This paper presents the results of a systematic review that analysed the evidence in the literature on income effects for smallholders. The review...

In this study, we set out to examine three interrelated questions: To what extent has Brazilian cooperation in the agriculture sector contributed to agrarian transformation in Mozambique? How has Mozambican civil society, and in particular the União Nacional dos Camponeses (UNAC, National Peasants’ Union), responded to the prospect of Brazilian agribusiness investments in the Nacala Corridor? And what effects has BrazilianMozambican agricultural development cooperation had on the existing...

This paper analyses inclusive land governance in Mozambique. It focuses on the country’s legal framework and the DUAT, the right to use and benefit from the land. The DUAT is a distinctive element of the Mozambican legislation that has land as the property of the state but recognises land use rights for occupants and users on the basis of a unitary system of tenure. The challenges of putting in practice what is thought to be one of Africa’s most progressive legal frameworks are discussed....

East Africa has experienced an increase of private land use investments in the past years. Rural households have consequently faced crucial changes in their livelihoods. This paper explores the socio-economic impacts of industrial forest plantations on rural communities in Niassa, Mozambique. According to our results private forest plantations have the potential to positively impact local people’s wealth and well-being, if enough emphasis is given to minimizing the negative impacts. The...

This paper discusses South–South cooperation by examining ProSAVANA, a flagship agricultural development program seeking to apply Brazilian experience to Mozambique. ProSAVANA is a joint Japan–Brazil–Mozambique initiative in the savannah zone of Mozambique’s Nacala Corridor region that was initially inspired by the Japan–Brazil PRODECER program in Brazil’s Cerrado region. ProSAVANA subsequently became the focus of fears about land-grabbing in the Nacala Corridor, attracting strong civil...

Following the food and energy price crises of the mid 2000s, sub-Saharan Africa has become one of the largest recipients for large-scale farmland investments. While much has been written on the phenomenon, scant reliable empirical evidence is available as to the precise geographic and sectoral patterns and underlying drivers. Employing strict data quality requirements, this paper addresses these knowledge gaps by analyzing 563 farmland projects that have been established between 2005 and...

The paper analyses the changing configuration of the political system since the Rome Peace Agreement of 1992. It discusses how the “political settlement” underlying the Peace Agreement and the outcomes of multiparty elections thereafter have shaped governance, including policy-making concerning the agriculture sector and the rural economy. The paper argues that private interests and electoral objectives have been important drivers of policy decisions taken by the governing elites concerning...

Rising world prices for fuel and food represent a negative terms-of-trade shock for Mozambique. The impacts of these price rises are analyzed using various approaches. Detailed price data show that the world price increases are being transmitted to domestic prices. Short-run net benefit ratio analysis indicates that urban households and households in the southern region are more vulnerable to food price increases. Rural households, particularly in the North and Center, often benefit from...

This article reconstructs key aspects of the evolving relationship between state institutions and former regulos (Portuguese‐appointed chiefs), in Nampula Province, Mozambique during the first 12 years of independence. In doing so, it simultaneously draws on and critiques two opposing interpretations of revolution and counterrevolution which have dominated scholarly production on post‐independence Mozambique and have polarized Mozambican studies in recent years. Against both sets of...