Mozambique: Intense heat kills crops in Matola, Maputo province
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Cashew nut production is expected to rise to 126,000 tonnes this year, down from the record reached in 2017, Ilídio Banze, director general of the Cashew Development Institute (Incaju), has told Lusa, but the fall in production does not dim the optimism of operators in the sector, who expect very positive results.
“The south and centre zones had some problems with rain, high winds and hail,” Banze says, and if it were not for the bad weather and the country could have reached a new 40-year record, surpassing the 139,000 tons achieved in the 2016/17 campaign.
Despite the fall, the Incaju director general makes a positive assessment of the current campaign, noting that until the end of the 1980s the country produced only about 18,000 thousand tons a year.
“Now, we have new players in the cashew production chain, and we believe that next season, at this pace, we can reach the goal of 200,000 tons,” Banze said.
Each campaign runs from October to April, and figures refer only to the production declared to Incaju. The total production of the country is estimated to be much larger – perhaps only half of all the cashew nut produced in Mozambique is not marketed through Incaju.
The cashew sector has been the target of state and private investments, and Mozambican authorities have supported the purchase of chemicals for farmers to deal with pests to the tune of about US$3 million annually.
“We want to increase the number of stakeholders in pest and disease control by inviting the private sector to intervene directly,” the director general of Incaju says, noting that the possible loss of production to pests could be as high as 50 percent, which would be “catastrophic”.
Vitoria Casimiro has been selling cashew nits for 15 years at the entrance to the Malanga market, one of the main markets in Maputo, and tells Lusa that in recent times there has been a slight increase in the price of the product.
“A year ago, a two-litre can full of cashew nuts was 50 meticais (EUR 0.70), while today the price is 70 meticais (EUR 0.90).
“I heard that this year production will not be the same as last year’s, and if this continues, I will have to change my business, because the education of my two children depends on this,” she adds.
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