Central and northern Mozambique continue to experience high levels of food insecurity

The central and northern provinces of Mozambique continue to experience high levels of food and nutritional insecurity, according to the Technical Secretariat for Food and Nutritional Security (SETSAN). Nampula and Zambezia, the country’s most populous provinces, have over 40 percent of people suffering from food and nutritional insecurity, while the provinces of Sofala, Manica and Cabo Delgado have 30 per cent. The country’s southern provinces have less than 20 per cent of people suffering from food and nutritional insecurity.

“What we produce (potatoes or beans) needs to be mixed into our children’s daily meals. Mothers also need to eat well during pregnancy, they need to eat eggs, they need to have good porridge, with those local mixtures with peanuts and coconut”, he said. For her turn, the Prime Minister Benvinda Levi said that the cyclone Gezani, which is expected to hit the southern provinces of Inhambane and Gaza and the central province of Sofala, may worsen food insecurity after the floods that hit central and southern Mozambique in mid-January.

“Right now, we are facing a serious threat. Another cyclone may devastate areas that were not affected by the initial floods. This will certainly worsen our food and nutritional security,’ he added.

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The floods destroyed more than 450,000 hectares of agricultural land and caused the death of around 430,000 animals in the provinces of Gaza, Maputo and part of Sofala. The heavy rains also caused 22 deaths, nine missing persons and 45 injuries, affecting more than 700,000 people and flooding around 165,000 homes. The rainy and cyclonic season is expected to end in April, after beginning in October 2025.

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