Chasing Markets : A Study of the Mozambican Cashew Industry

Sammanfattning: In the spring of 2009 we spent five weeks in Mozambique performing a field study. Four of the weeks were spent in Nampula province in the northern part of the country, where most of the Mozambican cashew is produced. In the 1970s Mozambique was world leading in cashew kernel export, however, today the industry is a shadow of its former self. Since the end of the 1990s, the government along with other stakeholders, are trying to recuperate the industry. There are a great deal of obstacles to overcome to be able to compete with other large exporting countries such as India, Vietnam and Brazil. The main issue is the conditions of the trees; the majority of the trees are over forty years old and therefore have a low cashew yield. In addition, poor maintenance of the trees further decreases the production. Other problems are the infrastructure, in particular roads in poor condition, difficulties in locating markets and the income gap between the producer and end retailer. During our research we have thought of a few recommendations which we feel would be worth looking into. We feel cheaper seedling should be available for the producers and nurseries should be put more locally for easier access. We also recommend spraying of the trees to be done more frequently. Furthermore a prerequisite for an expansion of the cashew industry is an investment in the infrastructure, to be able to transport the cashew from producer to processor and exporter. This would also improve life quality of the people in general. In addition, an investment in the poorest is necessary for the development of the country, a tool for achieving this could be better access to micro credits and village banks. To increase the income generated from Mozambican cashew kernels we recommend focusing the export on Fair Trade and possibly the organic market since they provide higher prices. A possibility to locating new markets would be an office, possibly in Europe, in order to be closer to the costumers. Another income generating market could be the market for by-products such as Cashew Nut Shell Liquid, cashew oil and juice and jam from the fruit.