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Mozambique Livelihood Baseline Profile, Zone 7a Southern Nampula Coastal (Agricultural) Livelihood Zone August 20081 Zone Description The national zoning exercisei delineated a Southern Nampula Coastal Zone, Livelihood Zone 7, covering the districts of Mogincual and Angoche, and two coastal administrative posts in Moma and Mossuril districts (see Fig. 1). The main livelihoods are described as fishing and agriculture. Closer field research indicates that using the administrative boundaries to define the zone has created a zone with two distinct livelihood types. Along the coast, the economy is dominated by fishing, including high-value species (tuna, prawns etc.). However, the impact of the ocean on the economy only extends a few kilometers inland; beyond this, the economy is dominated by cashew and field crops. It has therefore been decided to separate these zones. This profile only refers to the inland parts of the coastal districts and excludes the fishing economy.2 It is possible these agricultural parts of the coastal administrative posts should be included in the “Intermediate Nampula” Livelihood Zone (LZ8). However, until LZ8 has been studied, they are here classified provisionally as Livelihood Zone 7a. The zone covers the lowlands adjacent to the coast, the altitude not exceeding 200m above sea level. The soils are sandy and of low to moderate potential. The climate is semi-humid, Fig. 1. The Original Livelihood Zone 7 with moderate rainfall of 800-1,200 mm in one rainy season from November to March. Temperatures can reach 35oC in December-January, but are cooler in June-August, although temperatures do not fall much below 20oC. No exact population figures exist for the zone, because census data refer to administrative posts. It is estimated that the population of LZ7a is 200,000, or half the population of the original LZ7. Population density is high. The population is mainly from the Macua ethnic group and Moslem. There are no urban centers inside LZ7a, but the town of Angoche on the coast (within LZ7b) is a major trading hub, as is the much smaller town of Moma. Transport links to the provincial center, Nampula city, are reasonably good. Because of sandy soils, agriculture is vulnerable if rains are poor. The zone is also at the northern end of the cyclone belt; there was significant destruction from a cyclone in 2008.3 The zone does not have the expansive coconut plantations found in Zambézia Province, but it is common to find households owning a few palms. They 1Field work was undertaken in July 2008. The information refers to mid-March 2007 to mid-March 2008, a good year for food security by local standards. Provided there are no fundamental and rapid shifts in the economy, the information in this profile is expected to remain valid for about five years (i.e. until 2013). 2 The choice was made because, according to key informants, the fishing economy is relatively better-off in the southern districts of the province, and the threat of food insecurity is greater in agricultural areas. 3 The cyclone impact is not included in this profile, because the devastation occurred just after the end of the reference year (March 2008). are used for tapping for palm wine or for coconut production, and their leaves are a basic thatching material. The coconut lethal yellowing-type disease has reached southern Nampula, although the scale of the impact is not yet like in Zambézia. However, it is predicted that half the palm will die by 2015. Cashew trees are widespread across the zone and in the interior zones in the province, owned and managed on a small scale at family level, with most families owning at least a few trees. However, the trees are relatively old and productivity is low, leading many to give their trees little attention and to accept whatever they receive from the trees, rather than seeing them as a crop to be actively managed. Trees need to be sprayed three times a year against powdery mildew to have significant yields. The pesticide (sulfur powder) is provided free by the state, but farmers must meet the costs of application. In this zone (unlike other zones), many larger-scale farmers use their own sprayers to spray the trees of others, taking payment in cashew nuts at the time of harvest. Because of this, the practice of spraying is quite widespread. Yields without spraying are 3-5 kg/tree, and after three sprays a year are 10-15 kg/tree. Because the cost of spraying is just 2 kg cashew nut (in the shell) per tree, one would actually expect even higher uptake rates than exist. The staple food is cassava, which is also the main agricultural crop. For more than 20 years, this has been increasingly affected by brown streak virus, which has reduced yields. Typical yields are estimated at only 3-4 mt/hectare of fresh cassava, or 1-1.5 mt/ha of dry cassava. Clean planting material is still not available, despite the fact that local varieties within Nampula Province show reasonable tolerance to the disease. Some rice and maize are also grown, where soil conditions allow. Cassava is usually intercropped with legumes, mainly cowpeas and pigeon peas. The main cash crops, apart from cashew, are groundnuts and cassava. Sesame is a newly introduced cash crop, which is being taken up quickly and which shows great promise, if world prices for sesame stay high. Field cultivation is almost entirely by hand-hoe. Animal traction is not practiced, and few tractors are available for hire. No inputs are used in agriculture, with the exception of the free pesticides for cashew trees and some vegetable seeds. Seeds are mainly saved from farmers’ own harvests. Some farmers will purchase local seeds in the market for sowing or work for payment in seeds. Livestock production is limited to goats and poultry, and these are kept with no inputs. The demand for goats is high in Nampula Province, which relies on neighboring provinces for supply. Although many families do not have much capital to invest in livestock, there is no obvious economic reason why livestock-keeping is not on a larger scale. Poultry-keeping is limited because of the annual outbreaks of Newcastle disease, for which vaccines are not easily accessible at village level. The hunger season runs from December to March, starting earlier for those who cultivated small areas and later for those with larger fields and more production. Although most food prices are inevitably higher in the hunger period, prices of the main staple — dried cassava — do not show too much seasonality. The main cassava harvest (for drying) is just before the rains are expected, and the size of this harvest is a key determinant of a household’s food security in the hungry period. Generally, the zone would be described as suffering from chronic poverty and under-development, rather than acute food insecurity. The zone is reasonably self-sufficient in food. In normal years, most households can meet their basic minimum needs, although this does not mean poverty is not deep. Malnutrition is regarded as being high in this part of the country. This economic profile indicates the zone is not particularly vulnerable to an absolute lack of food, and that households can generally meet their food energy needs, even in a difficult year. To understand the causes of malnutrition, far more in-depth nutritional research is needed. This should start with a disaggregation of malnutrition statistics by livelihood zone, and pay attention to the diets for children and infants, and the costs of a nutritionally adequate diet for these groups. This profile can then be used to see to what extent economically households could afford such a diet. Markets Broadly, the zone is neither a deficit nor major surplus area of food crops. Most food comes from within the zone, although there is some supply of maize and even cassava from outside the zone; groundnuts, cashew, and sesame are sold outside the zone. Rice is almost entirely grown and consumed within the zone itself. The main markets are in the urban centers of Angoche and Moma (although both lie outside the zone, in the S. Nampula Coastal Fishing Zone, LZ7b). Most food items come into and out of the zone via these markets. There are no problems of access within the zone, and there is good access throughout the year to these urban markets from the main supply areas of northern Zambézia Province and the interior of Nampula Province. Dry cassava is the most- traded commodity, and much of this is sourced from within the zone. Moma District is a surplus area (especially the post of Chaluaua) that supplies Angoche, a deficit area (especially because of the main town). Cassava also comes into the zone from neighboring Mogovolas District (LZ8, immediately to the west). The other main food 2 Southern Nampula Coastal Agricultural Zone (LZ7a) coming into the zone is maize flour. There are various routes for maize to come into the zone. Most originates in northern Zambézia Province (Gile, which borders Moma to the southwest, or Alto Molocue), with the rest coming from within Nampula Province from districts such as Morrupula, Riabue, Mecuburi, and Malema. Supply in these districts is reported to be adequate, even in years when the rains fail within LZ7 and other parts of the country. Maize grain from Nampula Province and Alto Molocue is often brought first to Nampula city. It is either traded there and bought by traders from Angoche or Moma, who mill it and then bring maize flour into the zone. In other cases, it is brought to Nampula only for milling and then brought into the zone by the same traders.

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