Mozambique: US$374 million push targets 689,000-tonne cashew output by 2034

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Mozambique: US$374 million push targets 689,000-tonne cashew output by 2034

2:06 CAT | 24 Oct 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Rádio Moçambique]

Mozambique plans to invest US$374 million to develop the cashew sector and raise annual production from the current 158,000 tonnes to 689,000 by 2034, it was announced today.

According to information released by the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, the objective of the country-wide programme is “to promote the sustainable and competitive development of the cashew value chain, strengthening research, promotion, extension, marketing and processing”, thereby contributing “to increased production and income for producers and generating employment opportunities”.

“Cashew nuts are a product of social cohesion and promotion of food and nutritional security; we encourage that they be introduced into school feeding programmes and in the menus of our restaurants,” said Minister Roberto Albino, cited in the same information.

The 2025-2034 Cashew Value Chain Development Programme includes reform of implementation mechanisms to strengthen the industry and, besides increasing production levels, according to the ministry, also foresees the expansion of “assistance capacity from 230,000 to more than 600,000 producers, processing from 40,000 to more than 482,000 tonnes and consolidating the digitalisation process of the sector”.

The programme was formally launched on Thursday, with the supervising minister, Roberto Albino, emphasising that the state must focus on creating a favourable business environment through policies that drive rapid enterprise development. “Actors in the cashew value chain must say what they want the Government to do so that the business environment can flow in a way that generates wealth for the country,” he said.

He added the aim of promoting alliances between actors, benefiting both producers and industrialists and exporters, contributing to the development of the country.

“We have to draw on experiences from other cashew-producing countries,” said the minister, arguing that industrialising the cashew sector allows more jobs to be created for young people and women.

“We intend the cashew industry to operate without major state interventions,” he added.

The implementation of this programme also implies, to increase cashew nut income, approaching the entire value chain as a business.

“In view of the challenges the industry faces, the solution lies in full processing of the cashew nuts in the country. In this context, the GOVERNMENT will hold a meeting with industries to define mechanisms that encourage domestic investment and strengthen the sector,” the ministry explains regarding the objectives of the newly launched programme.

Official data previously indicated that cashew nut sales in Mozambique reached about 195,400 tonnes in the last 2024/2025 campaign, marking a historic milestone closer to the record of the 1970s, when the country was one of the world’s largest producers.

Mozambique’s cashew nut exports continue to grow, reaching US$38.7 million in the first quarter, leading foreign sales among the so-called “traditional products”, according to data from the Bank of Mozambique.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, cashew production in Mozambique reached over 200,000 tonnes annually 50 years ago, still during the colonial period, and by the mid-1970s Mozambique was the world’s second largest cashew producer (210,000 tonnes processed in 1973), only behind India, which at the time bought a large part of that production, as it still does today..

After Mozambique’s independence on 25 June 1975, production fell to around 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes annually, but has grown every year, and in the last (2024/2025) campaign claimed seventh place among the largest producers.

Source: Lusa