Photo credit: Mário Macilau/UN Mozambique.org
The Japanese government has pledged $10 million USD worth of food aid to help improve Mozambique’s food security situation. An agreement for this aid was signed in Maputo this past Friday by Mozambique’s Deputy Foreign Minister Henrique Banze and the Japanese ambassador Susumu Segawa.
The aid will buy 600 tons of rice grown in Japan and/or other rice producing nations and then sold on the Mozambique market. The aid will reach Japan via the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
JICA has also been involved in boosting Mozambique’s rice production since 2006 in the Chokwe region of the Limpopo Valley. It is also boosting involvement in preparing projects in Zambezia and Nampula provinces.
The Japanese had promised in 2008 to double its amount of aid to Africa at the Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), over a time period of five years. Despite the global financial crisis Japan has illustrated its commitment to this pledge.
Posted by Patricia Lee.
Photo credit: Mário Macilau/UNMozambique.org
