Evaluation of the potential for producing vegetables in screenhouses in Mozambique

Abstract

The production of vegetables in Mozambique presents a seasonal production, characterized by reasonable production levels during favourable climatic conditions, that means a cold season in which temperatures are mild. The climate of Mozambique is tropical, characterized by two distinct seasons a “cold” and dry season, from May to September and a hot and humid season between October and April. The production of vegetables during the summer in Mozambique has low levels of productivity. Although Mozambique is a producer of vegetables, the country needs to import in order to satisfy the domestic demand. In fact, between 2010 and 2014 import more than doubled from about $ 10 to 24 million. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the potential for producing vegetables in screenhouses in Mozambique during the hot season when outside production is insufficient. It is expected that using screenhouses a wide range of horticultural crops of great importance can be cultivated in Mozambique, taking advantage of higher productivity, better quality and the great advantage of the products being obtained out of the regular season. These structures allow to control temperature and humidity, providing the minimum conditions required by the crops. However, this involves higher production costs, that need to be compensated by the increase in productivity. Results showed an inside air temperature lower than the outside air temperature between 0.8 and 2.3°C and the inside air relative humidity increases between 4 and 15 percentual points.