Mozambican government plans to increase cashew production to 200,000 tons per year

Maputo, Mozambique, 12 Dc – Master plan II for the cashew sub-sector, due to be launched Monday in Maputo, plans to boost cashew production over the next nine years to 200,000 tons per year, according to Mozambican daily newspaper Notícias.

According to the newspaper report spraying will continue to cover around 5,000 cashew trees per year, planting will increase, new production technology will be introduced and other types of investments will also be made.

Average cashew production currently stands at around 105,000 tons per year, most of which is exported unprocessed to countries such as India, due to a lack of capacity in Mozambique to process the cashew nuts.

Filomena Maiopué, director of the Mozambican cashew institute (Incaju), said that the launch of the new master plan was a new stage for the cashew processing industry as, as well as small factories, Mozambique planned to also focus on medium-sized companies.

According to Maiopué the aim is to achieve a domestic processing capacity of around 100,000 tons by 2020, as compared to 38,000 tons at the moment.

She noted that the main aim was not to have large processing units similar to those Mozambique had previously, but if interested investors could be found and if there was capacity to supply them with raw materials this would not be out of the question.

Source: http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/2011/12/12/mozambican-government-plans-to-increase-cashew-production-to-200000-tons-per-year/