Staple food prices in Mozambique

Mozambique is located along the Indian Ocean coastline of southern Africa and covers over 799,380 Km2 hectares, including over 36 million hectares of arable land. The recent population census indicates that over 70% of Mozambique’s population lives in rural areas, and that population is growing. The remaining 30% live in urban areas, including the capital Maputo with 1.1 million people. With about 80 percent of its population of 20 million dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, the agricultural sector remains the key sector in the economy for achieving economic growth. While there has been significant economic growth in recent years, with GDP growth averaging 8.6 percent annually, there is still a high proportion of the population living below $1/day. Food accessibility is clearly a major issue for many households, both rural and urban, in spite of increasing food production levels and incomes. As will be seen in greater detail, due to geographical and historical factors, there are large differences in food staple consumption and production between regions of Mozambique. Analysis of price dynamics helps us to understand these relationships, especially as prices respond to external drivers as well as domestic ones. The rise in world food and fuel prices created difficulties in Mozambique, including a day of street protests in early 2008 over an increase in transport costs and bread. As a response to the rising prices, the government developed their Action Plan for Food Production (Plano de Acção da Produção Agrícola, known as PAPA) (Mozambique 2008), designed to increase domestic food availability through various measures to enhance crop production and productivity, thereby lowering domestic food prices and relying less on imports from the world markets. To put this plan into context, it is important to look at the role of different staples, price fluctuations for them, and key regional differences within the country