The Almond Institute of Mozambique (IAM) reported on Wednesday 24 July that cashew and macadamia nuts bring the country around 6.3 billion meticais (100 million dollars) a year through exports.
Speaking during the panel on ‘Investment Opportunities in the Agribusiness Sector’ at the Arab-Mozambique Investment Forum, IAM representative Ilídio Bande said that ‘at the moment, both crops are already being exported. We have an average income of around 6.3 billion meticais (100 million dollars) a year as a result of their export’.
The source pointed out that the value chain for both crops involves more than 1.4 million Mozambican families. “We have more than 89 companies registered, both for cashew nuts and macadamia nuts, and more than 15,000 workers are directly employed. At the moment, the kernels produced have great commercial value and we are still looking for opportunities to introduce more kernels to our market,’ he said.
At the moment, both crops are already being exported.We have an average income of around 6.3 billion meticais (100 million dollars) a year as a result of their export
Ilídio Bande
As for cashew nuts, Ilídio Bande emphasised that the value chain for this crop is the most traditional in the country. “There is almond processing in the country, despite all the difficulties. We have an installed capacity of around 100,000 tonnes at the moment, but it’s not fully utilised, which opens up room for more investment. We produce an average of 150,000 tonnes, of which 50% is produced in Nampula, and the processing is done in the same province. We have around 40 million cashew trees in the country,’ he said.
Cashew processing
With regard to the macadamia, the IAM pointed to it as one of the major crops on a global scale, with great importance and which could have the potential to increase producers’ incomes. “There is a big trend towards increased consumption of almonds on a global scale, both in Europe and America. We need to have this incentive at national level to increase our consumption capacity. At the moment, in terms of macadamia nuts, we have some provinces that are more advanced, namely Niassa, Zambézia, Manica and Maputo. However, there are already some small niches in other provinces,’ he said.
Macadamia processing
On the same occasion, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Olegário Banze, reiterated that over the last two decades Mozambique has made significant progress in the economy, especially in the agricultural sector. “The sector contributes 23 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country has a total of 36 million hectares of arable land, of which only 6.2 million are under cultivation, which corresponds to 17.2 per cent. 66.6 per cent of the population lives in rural areas, of which 80 per cent practice family farming. We have 3.9 million families in Mozambique who practise subsistence farming, which means that a lot still needs to be done in terms of investment.”
Olegário Banze pointed to climate change as a major challenge for the development of agriculture in the country. “This brings us back to the need for more training. We need to apply technologies that allow us to be more resilient in the face of climate change,’ he said.
