About Mozambique
1. Background
Since Mozambique gained its independence in 1975, it suffered several man made and natural disasters. During the period 1975 to 1992 the country faced a vicious civil war that forced millions of people to run away and live as displaced. In addition to badly shaking the social tissue of Mozambique it also destroyed most of the infrastructure.
During the 16 years of the conflict Mozambique was receiving food aid, and its economy was centrally planned. The country has adopted a market economy and has been at peace for the last 10 years. Enormous progress has been made through reforms resulting in economic growth rates among the highest of the world. On the other hand, the human development indexes remain amongst the lowest in the world; but encouraging gains are being observed.
In 2000 and 2001, a big part of the South and Center region was severely affected by the floods, forcing out of their houses hundreds of thousands of people, who in addition to loose their household belongs lost animals and agriculture production. During the last months, part of these regions is suffering from a drought spell; again thousands of people lost most of their food production and hunger strikes again.
2. Social Situation
The total population for Mozambique was 17.2 million in the year 2000 of whom 52% are women; the child population (0-18 years) is 51%. 32.6% of the population lives in the northern region, 41.9% in the central region and 25.5% in the southern region. Life expectancy at birth is 44.2 years and adult illiteracy rate is 56.7%, (1997 data shows a 74.1% illiteracy rate for women and 44.6% for men).
Mozambique remains one the poorest countries of the World. The majority of the population e.g. 70% lives on less than one dollar per day the World Banks measure of absolute poverty; GNP per capita in 1998 was US$217.2. Over 80% of the households live in rural areas. Even though the Human Development Index (HDI) has been growing steadily since 1994 gains in the last few years are due almost exclusively to a sharp drop in the adult illiteracy, this rate has declined from 60.5% in 1997 to 56.7% in 2000, a reduction of 6.3% in four years.
A marked regional asymmetry is observed, with the worst figures for the rural areas of the north and center of the country. This asymmetry is observed in terms of the concentration of the economic activity (see next chapter) as well as in terms of human development indexes including the Gender-related Development Index (GDI). The figures out of this rate indicate that the inequalities between the sexes is considerably worse in the center and north Mozambique than in the southern provinces.
The central government has made an effort towards gender equality; 29.4% of the members of parliament elected in 1999 are women (one of the highest percentages, not only in Africa, but in the world as well). In the government 14.3% of the ministries and 29.4% of the deputy ministries are women. 31.3% of permanent secretaries in ministries are women.
But at lower levels of the civil service the figures are not as encouraging, and again demonstrate a clear trend of regional asymmetry. Only 16% of national directors and 19.6% of deputy national directors are women. Not one of the 11 provincial governors is a woman, and only 7.6% of provincial directors and 20% of deputy national directors are women. In 138 districts is rare to find a woman in a powerful position 4.7% of district administrators are women and 4.4% of district directors.
The statistics of work between sexes are relevant as well. In urban areas 62.9% of the men at work, but only 22.1% of workingwomen, are in the public or private sector. In rural areas most people, men and women alike, are peasant farmers that do not earn a wage. But the little wage labor needed in the rural areas goes overwhelming to the men. The rural formal sector (public and private) provides work for 9.8% of men but only to 1.8% of women.
The main health problems are malaria (accounts for 70% of all pediatric admission), tuberculosis, cholera and diarrheic related disorders; HIV/AIDS is becoming a serious concern with higher incidence rates in the corridors of the country. A prevalence rate over 16% of HIV/AIDS is reported for the adult age group (15-49 years).
Less than 40% of the population in the country has access to health services. Mozambique counts with 5 central specialized hospitals, 7 provincial hospitals, 27 rural and general hospitals, 250 health centers and 700 health posts. The number of inhabitants per health worker is 2,315.
Common drugs such as pain killers and anti-malarial are readily available throughout the country. However, more specialized drugs are more difficult to find. Sometimes, these are offered in private clinics at prices prohibited to most of the Mozambique population.
3. Economic Situation
The Minister of Finance reported an economic growth of 13.9% for 2001. Agriculture grew by 10.4%, manufacturing industry 16.9%, construction 17.8%, mining 11.8% and transport and communications 44.9%
The balance of trading improved dramatically in 2001. The deficit fell from 798.3 million in 2000 to 447.1 million in 2001 a raise of 93.3% due to the export of aluminum ingots produced by MOZAL. Without MOZAL the growth would have been only 5.4%. The value of imports fell slightly from 1,162.3 million in 2000 to 1,150.8 million in 2001.
Cumulative inflation rate for the year 2001 for the Maputo city is 21.9%. CUSO bank exchange rates show a devaluation of the Metical (MZM) against the USD of 34.74% between the months of January and December 2001. The government-revised targets for 2002 include a growth rate of 12.1% and an inflation rate from January to December of 8.1% (this compares with the inflation of about 21% in 2001.
There is an enormous gap between economic activity in Maputo city and the rest of the country. The concentration of production is 37% in Maputo. The other southern provinces account for 14%, the central region for 28% and the north for 21%.
The government remains committed to an open market economy. The economic development is pursued fighting the 3 main structural problems of Mozambique namely the persistence of poverty, the continuation of regional asymmetries, and the weakness of the national entrepreneurial sector.
4. Agriculture
Agriculture is vital to the Mozambique economy, since 80% of the population work in this sector, and it produces about 30% of the country’s gross domestic product. A census conducted in 1999/2000 found that there are slightly above three million farms in the country, with an average of 1.26 hectares each. Over 50% of Mozambican farms are less than one hectare in size. The census found that 96.9% of small and medium size farms, their owners have no land title.
As per production the main crop produced is maize, it is produced in 79.4% of the farms. Cassava is produced on 63.8% of the farms, sorghum on 27%, and rice on 20.8%. Only a minority e.g. 11% of the farms grows cash crops (6.1% cotton, 2.3% sugar cane, 1.9% tobacco and 0.7% sunflower).
In same areas there are surpluses of agriculture production. But due to poor infrastructure, insufficient transport and poor storage capacities, the rural communities cannot get their excess products to the market and have not been able to benefit from their hard work.
The level of organization among the peasants remains very low. Out of over three million agricultural households, only 67,271 have members in any form of agricultural association.
Most of the farms have no access to credit. Only four per cent obtained credit for the 2000-2001 year. Banks provided just 328 farmers with credit; the rest obtained their credit from NGOs (24,692), cooperatives (9,513), the government (6,460) and other sources (81,342)
5. Development Issues
The government is committed to reduce poverty and create the right conditions for human progress. Several institutional reforms, policy developments and strategic plans have been developed during recent years. Mozambique must now take action to implement the plans and policies developed. One of these strategies is the action plan for the reduction of absolute poverty (PARPA). This plan as been regarded as one of the best poverty reduction strategies in the world.
With PARPA the government wants to reduce substantially the levels of absolute poverty in Mozambique through the adoption of measures to improve the capacities of, and the opportunities available to all Mozambicans, especially the poor. More specifically the Government wants to reduce the incidence of absolute poverty from 70% in 1997 to less than 60% by 2005 and less than 50% by the end of the present decade.
The objectives of the 5-year development plan are the following:
- Reduction of the levels of absolute poverty.
- Rapid and sustainable economic growth.
- The economic development of the country.
- Peace reconciliation and national unity, justice, democracy and patriotical conscience.
PARPA recognizes the following conditions observed in the country:
- The majority of the population is poor;
- Absolute poverty prevalence and incidence is higher in the rural areas;
- The majority of the population lives in the rural areas;
- The majority of the population is making a living through primary sector activities: agriculture, fishery and utilization of natural resources;
- Women constitute the majority of the Mozambican population;
- The Mozambique population is mainly young.
It is through the recognition of these conditions and starting from them that the problematic of the civil society groups must be addressed. The fundamental concern is the improvement of the living conditions of the vulnerable groups identified in the population. This preoccupation implies an orientation of the development actions to the rural population, to the women and to the youth.
In concrete terms, the poverty reduction strategy in Mozambique is based on six priorities aimed at promoting human development and creating a favourable environment for rapid, inclusive and broad-based growth. The "fundamental areas of action" are: (i) education, (ii) health; (iii) agriculture and rural development; (iv) basic infrastructure; (v) good governance; and (vi) macro-economic and financial management. These areas for action are considered as “fundamental” because they are absolutely essential for reducing poverty and stimulating growth, and also because their impact is both deep and broad.
September 2002