Maputo, July 14, 2026 (Lusa) - The authorities announced on Tuesday that Mozambique is set to establish its first laboratory dedicated to the study of honey and to strengthen research into sustainable coffee, through two projects supported by Portugal, Brazil and Argentina to promote biodiversity and rural development.
Portuguese Co-operation presented the two projects in Maputo; they form part of the triangular cooperation promoted by Portugal and involve universities, national parks and public institutions from the three countries, seeking to create sustainable solutions for the sustainable use of natural resources, the strengthening of scientific research and the training of a new generation of Mozambican specialists.
The coordinator of ProMEL, Cristina Máguas, explained that the project’s second mission served to monitor the implementation of activities on the ground, harmonise methodologies among the partners and reinforce the work carried out by researchers, students and beekeepers in the areas of intervention, recalling that the project’s first mission was “very important”, as it had enabled “the selection of sites and the assessment of methods with the students and technical staff”.
“And this second mission was, on the one hand, to check how all this work was progressing (…) and to find more beekeepers,” said Cristina Máguas, on the sidelines of the presentation on the projects ProMEL – Honey and Beekeeping in Mozambique: Promoting Sustainable Development and Biodiversity Conservation and TRICAFÉ II – Sustainable Coffee Production in an Agroforestry System.
According to the project leader, work is also underway at the Manica Higher Polytechnic Institute (ISPM), in the centre of the country, the establishment of Mozambique’s first laboratory entirely dedicated to the study of honey, funded by the Camões Institute, which will enable the analysis of the product’s botanical origin through pollen, as well as its physical, chemical, enzymatic and sensory characteristics, thereby strengthening scientific research and quality certification.
“The laboratory we are setting up is entirely dedicated to honey,” she said.
Cristina Máguas added that ProMEL works with thousands of beekeepers in Mozambique, particularly in the Chimanimani National Park in Manica and the Gorongosa National Park in Sofala, combining scientific research, academic training and knowledge transfer to improve beekeeping production and promote sustainable practices in local communities.
Meanwhile, Ana Ribeiro, coordinator of Tricafé II and a researcher at the Higher Institute of Agronomy (ISA) at the University of Lisbon, explained that the project supports forest restoration programmes through coffee production in agroforestry systems and the training of young researchers specialising in a sector that is still developing in Mozambique.
“The Tricafé project aims to support the efforts being made by Chimanimani National Park and Gorongosa National Park to restore forest ecosystems,” said Ana Ribeiro.
She explained that, following an initial phase between 2017 and 2023, which focused on assessing the performance of the coffee agroforestry system in Gorongosa, the project entered, in 2024, a second phase, extended to Chimanimani, dedicated to monitoring forest recovery, studying native coffee species and developing speciality coffees, including a pilot fermentation phase.
“Mozambique is the second-largest centre for local coffee species. Wild species are much more resilient,” she said.
According to the organisers, the ProMEL and Tricafé II projects aim to forge links between universities, public institutions, national parks, international partners and local communities, contributing to biodiversity conservation, the sustainable management of natural resources and the scientific and economic development of Mozambique.
EYMZ/ADB // ADB.
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