NEW CASHEW FACTORY FOR NORTHERN CABO DELGADO

A cashew processing plant under construction in Nangade district in the far north of Mozambique may halt the trend for local peasants to sell their cashew nuts over the border, in Tanzania.According to a report in Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the factory, under construction with a grant from India, will be complete by the end of this year.The Nangade district administrator, Melchior Focas, declared “we are convinced that if the nuts are processed locally, they will have added value. Not only will the factory create jobs, but I believe the producers will be spared the need to walk long distances and cross the Rovuma River, in order to sell their cashew nuts in Tanzania”.With a cashew orchard of about 1.8 million trees, Nangade is the largest cashew producing district in Cabo Delgado province. In the 2011-12 cashew harvest, Nangade farmers marketed 7,100 tonnes of nuts, significantly higher than the target of 6,600 tonnes set by the National Cashew Institute (INCAJU). But the real figure is rather higher, because some of the Nangade cashew production is taken over the border. Focas believed that stable producer prices for cashew are reducing this trend. The estimates are that, during the 2009-2010 campaign about 2,000 tonnes of Nangade cashews were sold in Tanzania – that figure dropped to 800 tonnes in the 2010-2011 campaign.Cashews are a key cash crop for Nangade farmers, and money from the sale of the nuts has been invested in improving houses, in acquiring bicycles, motorcycles and even, in some cases, vehicles, as well as radios and cell phones.