The cashew nut processing industries in Nampula province are unable to absorb more than 30,000 tons of this cash crop, due to lack of capacity, which opens space for raw exports, with all the losses it brings to the value chain.
According to the newspaper Notícias, data indicate that the province of Nampula produced 80,000 tons of cashew nuts in the 2021/2022 season, but the processing industries absorbed an amount of 50,000 tons.
To avoid the product remaining in the hands of the producers, predominantly from the family sector, and generating huge losses, the government is taking steps so that the more than 30 thousand tons are exported to the international market, especially to India, China, Japan, among other countries.
The authorities, however, encourage entrepreneurs to invest in the cashew sub-sector to increase the processing capacity, as a way to absorb all the raw material, thus multiplying the gains, including the creation of jobs and self-employment opportunities.
In Nampula province there are more than 400,000 cashew nut producing families, of which 100,000 are assisted in spraying activities, distribution of pesticides and other materials.
In the 2021/2022 agricultural season, marketing will allow more than three billion meticais to be raised for producers.
The money will be used to improve their diet, buy school supplies for their children, improve their housing, and pay for other basic needs.
José Castigo, 56 years old, resident at the headquarters of the administrative post of Namialo, Meconta district, is an example of a focused producer. He has five children, all studying, two of whom are in higher education.
According to his words, all expenses related to the children's education, including food and other basic family needs, are met thanks to the income that comes from the cashew nut business.
Castigo has been producing cashew nuts for more than 40 years, on a plot of land estimated at five hectares. The house where Castigo's family lives is covered with zinc sheets, and at the moment he is considering starting another project. However, he considers that the yield would be greater if the industries had more capacity to process all the cashew nuts, taking advantage of their
No money to invest
Cashew processors do not have the money to invest in order to absorb all the production. It is because the business itself has become unsustainable, due to several factors, from the confinement following the Covid-19 pandemic, the international financial crisis, and the depreciation of the Metical against major trading currencies.
For these and other reasons, entrepreneurs have not been able to buy the nuts produced in the 2021/2022 season. In fact, the difficulties began to emerge in 2018, a period in which the factories began to accumulate losses, from the cost point of view, subjecting managers to difficulties in exporting the product to the international market.
Covid-19 forced major buyers to close their borders to avoid risks of contamination and spread of the disease. No alternatives were created to overcome the challenge, with industries simply waiting for the end of the disease or the restrictive measures.
The Association of Cashew Industrialists (AICAJU) needs to do a survey to ascertain the quantities of cashew nuts that are still in the warehouses. However, what is certain is that they are looking for buyers for the product that has already been processed. It is a situation that is having implications on the quality of the kernel.
Meanwhile, India is the main market, and buyers from that country have increased the import duty on the broken kernel from 45 percent to about 70 percent. The situation has led to an inflated purchase price of the domestic raw material, which has made it difficult to compete with the other foreign players.