Soybean crops in the African continent: contemporary evidence based on Mozambican producers

Abstract:

Between 1961 and 2016, the African continent showed a marked growth in soybean acreage, production and productivity. The expansion of agricultural frontiers has also been noted in Mozambique. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze soybean production in Africa from the indicators of soybean evolution in the different countries of the continent and the technical and socio-productive conditions of producers from Tete, Nampula, Manica and Zambezia provinces, which are the main producing regions of Mozambique. The research used primary and secondary data. Primary data were obtained through survey and application of semi-structured questionnaires from January to March 2018. The sample consisted of 120 soybean farmers, chosen from the snowball sampling technique. The reference techniques were descriptive statistics and the econometric growth rate model for data treatment. Most of the soybean farmers interviewed were growing soybean in 2.0 ha areas, with yield of 0.5-1.0 t / ha. Of these, 77.4% use improved seeds and only 12.1% chemical fertilization. It was identified that the soybean crop, although promising on the continent, is still in the early stages of development from the adoption of new technologies adapted to the local edaphoclimatic conditions.

Keywords:
soybean production, African continent, technologic innovation; Mozambique