Community rice mill serves 700 families in Mozambique's Zambézia
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Club of Mozambique
A rice milling station funded by the UK’s COAST Facility programme has been installed in Maquival, in Mozambique’s Zambézia province, to benefit 700 farming families. According to Blue Forest, part of the equipment’s revenue will go into a community fund to support local businesses and provide income alternatives to mangrove extraction.
Blue Forest has delivered a community rice mill to Maquival, in Mozambique’s Zambézia province, to serve 700 farming families. The equipment, funded by the UK government’s COAST Facility programme, will allow producers to process their harvest close to home, Club of Mozambique reports.
The project aims to reduce post-harvest losses and help farmers earn more. Some of the revenue from milling fees will go into a community fund to finance local businesses and other income-generating activities. These initiatives are intended to provide households with alternatives to cutting mangroves for charcoal production.
The Maquival station is the first in a planned series across six locations in the Zambezi Delta. The MozBlue programme, a 60-year partnership between Blue Forest, the Mozambican government and local communities, covers 155,000 hectares of mangroves along 750 kilometres of coastline in 12 districts of Zambézia and Sofala provinces. It has restored 2,000 hectares and planted more than 14 million seedlings, according to figures reported by Club of Mozambique.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
