Plan to survey land occupation and use

Mozambique's National Agricultural Development Programme (PROAGRI) has made 800,000 US dollars available for surveying and mapping the occupation and use of land.

According to the National Director of Geography and Land Tenure in the Agriculture Ministry, Elias Mucome, this programme seeks to make it possible to draw up data on land tenure in Mozambique, in order to establish better conditions for investing in the land. But the initial programme is fairly modest: it will last for two years, and will only cover 20 districts. Mucome said that in this first stage two districts have been chosen in each of Mozambique's ten provinces, in order to prepare the provincial agriculture directorates for subsequent phases.

Mucome stressed that implementation of this project should ensure that his department acquires real knowledge about the occupation and use of land. He thought it should also help remove bureaucratic obstacles in dealing with land tenure requests. "We want to improve effective and speedy access to land, and the rational and sustainable use of land", said Mucome. "We want to guarantee the land tenure of local communities". "It's in the interest of the Ministry of Agriculture to strengthen its ability to plan, coordinate, monitor and assess the impact of activities linked to the administration and management of land", he concluded. (AIM, Maputo)