Japan to help Mozambique transform savannah regions into fertile lands

16 March 2010, African Press Agency
URL: http://www.apanews.net/apa.php?page=show_article_eng&id_article=120084

Tokyo:  Japan and Brazil said they will work together with Mozambique to transform its savannah regions to a fertile land and thus bolster the transformation and development of Mozambique’s agricultural sector, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced here Monday.

The project consists of developing 5.5 million hectares of the savannah, an area almost one and a half times larger than Japan. Only 2 million hectares of the savannah are presently being used as farmland.  It will be financed by JICA with the help of the Brazilian government which already had a similar experience as in the 1970s, it was assisted by Japan in transforming its ’cerrados’ or savannah grasslands into a vast breadbasket added JICA.

JICA and the agricultural research institute of the Brazilian government will start research around October on what crops are suitable and how the soil can be improved.

JICA says it wants to expand this approach in Africa. A symposium on this matter will be held on March 17 at the UN University in Tokyo. Speakers will include the senior vice president and director of the Africa division of JICA and Mozambique’s Agriculture and Assistant Agriculture ministers.