RE SEARCH Mozambique can and must keep potato growing inside its own country kilometres. Market vendors sell the potatoes in heaps of 1 to 15 kilograms. The price is between 35 and 55 eurocents per kilogram, depending on variety, grade and quality. A retailer buys a new bag of 150 kilograms from his intermediary approx. every four days. The potato prices in the capital of Maputo are 10 percent higher than in the potato regions, the reason being that the potatoes here come from South Africa. Every day, 30-ton lorries arrive here fully-loaded with potatoes in 10 kilogram paper bags. They go straight to the Zimpato wholesalers market. Next, the intermediaries transport them in their small pick-up trucks to the retail markets all over town. These are all potatoes of the Mondial variety, ‘not floury’ is clearly printed on the bags. The bags show the names of the typical South-African farms where they were grown: Swartpan, Limpopo, Uitdraai, Al3boerderij, etc. Along the main road near the border with Malawi, you see small entrepreneurs who peel, cut, and fry potatoes themselves and serve them with chicken. When the yield is good, the price is a bit lower, and when it’s bad it’s a bit higher. good, the price is a bit lower, when it’s bad it’s a bit higher. But generally speaking, the prices in Mozambique are reasonably stable. The reason may be that there are two harvests a year with different harvest times. The transport costs to the big cities are approx. 5 eurocents per kilogram assuming a distance of 250 Expensive import The VIP supermarket chain in Tete, which also has shops in the Mozambican potato region, only sells unpackaged Mondials from South Africa, which cost around 1.25 euros per kilo, which is twoand-a-half times as expensive as the open market round the corner. In the capital of Maputo, which is closer to South Africa, the Mondials in the Shoprite supermarket chain only cost 90 eurocents per kilogram. They are even cheaper in paper bags, about 75 eurocents per kilogram. If the local potato trade wants to earn money with potatoes, they’d better focus on whiteskinned varieties with shallow eyes such as BP1 and Mondial. It would also be advisable that they start their own grading, washing and packaging businesses. Supplying potatoes all year round is also part of such new schemes. Opportunities for fresh French-fry production You don’t yet see any international fastfood restaurant chains of McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Tete potato region. There are small, local chains with around fifty restaurants for a population of around 250,000 inhabitants. The average restaurant buys about 70 kilograms of potatoes on the market every day, which are then processed into chips in the kitchen. In total, the town needs 3.5 tons of potatoes for the production of fresh chips every day. The quantity has increased rapidly in recent years, because more and more restaurants are opening and the French-fry consumption is gaining in popularity. Some restaurants also sell to the coal mines. This development in the Frenchfry market offers opportunities for small processing businesses for fresh chips. Of course, it’s necesseary to explore the market first in order to draw up a sound business plan. But there are definitely opportunities. Coal mines are good customers The Zambezi region has a number of big coal mines. Mozambique is the country with the largest coal mines in Africa. The biggest is Vale Mozambique, which has nearly four thousand labourers working at two locations. All miners get breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner provided by their company. They eat their meals in the canteens or they have it packed when they go to work in the mine. Vale works with two caterers, each of which in turn has one or more suppliers as well. Each mine needs about 50 tons of potatoes every week. All the mines together use a few hundred tons a week, which are all transported in cold-storage trucks over a distance of 1,500 to 2,000 kilometres from South Africa. And this while the mines are looking out, as it were, over the potato fields in their own country. If they were to set up a local supply chain, the mines might be able to save considerably on food and transport costs. At the same time, the local economy would thrive. There are current initiatives to examine the possibilities for local supplies. Setting up small processing units Consumers in Tete and Maputo are used to eating processed food. Contrary to many other potato areas in Africa such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, you hardly see any home-produced crisps or chips. There is only one place in Mozambique 34 Potato World 2014 • number 4 Pagina 73
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