December 15, 2003

Mozambique To Export 1,500 Tons Soybean To Norway's Largest Feed Producer, Felleskjopet

Around 3,000 farmers in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula will cooperate in sales of soybean to the Norwegian agricultural purchasing and marketing cooperative, Felleskjopet.
 

A collaboration of 3,000 farmers in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula will sell soybean to the Norwegian agricultural purchasing and marketing cooperative, Felleskjopet.

An agreement recently signed between Felleskjopet, which is owned by Norwegian farmers, and the Mozambican cooperative IKURU will guarantee the Nampula farmers export income from 1,500 tons of soybean.

Felleskjopet have recognised that the farmers have land, water and labour, and the Norwegians have stepped in to provide a guaranteed market.

Felleskjopet states that by giving the farmers a guaranteed market and price, the farmers get income that enables them to invest and improve their own, and the nation's, food-security. A press release from Felleskjopet points out that "Mozambique is a rich country from the nature side, with great opportunities.

Opening an export market will help the country develop their possibilities further." The farmers will grow soybeans on a quarter of a hectare each, and will be given seeds, and other inputs on credit.

Extension services will also be provided, and they will be given a guaranteed price before the planting season begins.

The pilot project will begin by purchasing 1,500 tons of soybean, but Felleskjopet aims to buy significantly more from Mozambique if the project is successful. Other feed crops may be added later as the project develops.

Felleskjopet is the largest feed-producer in Norway. It sees that much can be achieved by forming alliances between small-scale farmers in Norway and in Africa. Norwegian farmers have problems competing in the world market due to the climate and the high cost of labour and machinery.

Competitiveness is also hit by the Norwegian Cooperatives' policy of no tolerance towards genetically modified crops, GMO.

There are problems finding non-GMO soybeans on the world market, and the crops produced in Mozambique will provide a guaranteed supply the Norwegian farmers.

Felleskjopet warns of a threat to the project - for the project to be successful the current trade and duty preferences given to the Least Developed Countries must be maintained.

Felleskjopet warns that the World Trade Organisation wants to enforce the removal or reduction of tariffs. Felleskjopet considers that the big losers if trade barriers are lifted will be the farmers in poor countries.

According to the managing director of Felleskjopet, Lars Fredrik Stuve, these farmers will not be able to compete on the world market.

However, the issue of tariffs and other forms of agricultural protection is a complex one. Many economists have argued that farmers in Africa are capable of being highly competitive, but that the protection given to farmers in the United States and the European Union completely distorts markets, resulting in the impoverishment of African producers.

Other economists have argued that unregulated international markets have led to the overproduction of many tropical agricultural products, leading to disastrous price falls, and that it is this, rather than the issue of tariffs, which has led to massive poverty in Africa.

What is clear though, is that the help given by Felleskjopet in setting up this project will be of great benefit to the farmers in both Nampula and Norway. It is hoped that this mutually beneficial arrangement will prove to be sustainable and replicable.