The Gaza Province may produce in the present campaign more than 16 thousand tons of cashew nut, as a result of the commitment of the producers who have increased the areas and the investments of the Government in the spraying of the trees, aiming the growth of the yield.
This expectation was shared by the provincial delegate of the Mozambique Almond Institute (IAM) in Gaza, Sérgio Uique, during his visit to the districts of Mandlakazi, Chibuto and Bilene, for monitoring the campaign for chemical treatment of cashew trees underway in the province.
Uique said that the aim was to spray, by the end of this month, at least 400,000 cashew trees out of a total of 1.8 million existing in the province.
The leader explained that with the spraying work underway, Gaza may recover its annual production figures, starting next year’s harvest with 16,000 tons of the nut, as compared to the 14,000 produced in the 2020/21 season. In fact, last season, the province assumed the projection of 21,000 tons of the product, but it was not possible to harvest due to the rains that affected the maturation and harvest phase of the crop.
The IAM delegate in Gaza said that cashew production was a challenge for the authorities and for farmers, due to the unavailability of pesticides and atomisers for treating the trees, with capacity reserved for just 400,000 cashew trees.
“There are remaining one million four hundred thousand cashew trees which, if treated, our production can increase to quite high levels. The campaign is going well and at the moment we have already sprayed more than 350,000 trees out of a projected 400,000 and we hope that by the end of the month we will have concluded the process,” Uique said.
