A agro-indústria do chá na alta-Zambézia no período pós-independência 1975-1987

Abstract

With the present work, The Agroindustry of Tea in Upper-Zambézia in the post-independence period (1975-1987), we intend to make our contribution to an understanding of the history of tea production in Upper-Zambézia. Although the period is relatively short (about 12 years), the theme gains importance due to the fact that this culture had a very profound expression in the life of this region, especially in the districts of Milange, Gurué, Namarrói, Lugela, Ile and Alto-Molocué. Throughout the three chapters that constitute this work we have tried to demonstrate the level of influence of the tea culture in the region; the reason why the central planners attributed to Emochá E.E. the role of dynamizer of socialist development in the region, in an essentially agricultural economy. Having constituted predominant industry and the largest employer of labour in the colonial mould from the 1940s onwards, what real changes took place in the period under analysis, and how were these changes experienced at community level. Some answers were found throughout the work, starting with the process of labour recruitment, which ceased to be compulsory for 6 months and became voluntary. It had as agents the Dynamizer Groups, which obeyed pre-defined goals for each region, so as not to prejudice other socialist objectives. In the recruitment process, difficulties were encountered, starting with the transportation of workers (from the regions of origin and vice-versa), the working conditions in the plantations and the wages, which were considered low and frequently delayed. Added to these difficulties was the decline in trade in the region. Although the stabilization of labour in the region where tea was grown had been demanded since the colonial period, it was a great problem for Emochá to find sufficient labour for the period of green leaf harvesting, which coincides with ploughing and sowing in peasant agriculture. At company level, the factories were unable to process the green leaf that was available, to package the tea, to transport it to the ports and even to export it. This set of factors determined the development of tea throughout the period under analysis. We believe that these problems would have been surmountable in the short or medium term, had it not been for the war, which in one way or another undermined the production of tea.(TRADUÇAO NOSSA)