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Cashew nuts used to be a major export for Mozambique, earning valuable foreign exchange. But in recent years, business has plummeted
Maria Manuel (27) sits attentively observing the potential buyers as they roam around her small business «premises» at the corner of the busy Eduardo Mondlane and Karl Marx streets in Maputo, Mozambique’s capital. She is selling some shelled, roasted cashew nuts, for which she is charging less than 1 US dollar for a measure, but if they are sold she is assured of a meal for the day.
«I have been engaged in this business for many years and I have managed to eke out a living from it», explains the mother of four in a recent interview. «But now business is not as good as before, as a lot of people are operating kiosks in several parts of the city».
Moving around the city, one finds many women and young men touting trays full of the nuts which have for a long time provided a lifeline for numbers of Mozambicans.
Rural farmers who own several cashew nut trees, used to record brisk business a few years ago. Although many people are now selling the nuts in the urban centres, their increase in number fails to bring a smile on the faces of rural producers. So, what’s happened?
Joao Francisco, a resident of Inhambane province some 600 kilometres south of Maputo, puts it this way: «The business is no longer what it used to be. We used to have record sales almost everytime people came to buy from us».
Why have sales decreased?
This follows an announcement by the government last year that it was banning the foreign trade in cashew nuts. Many rural farmers in areas where the trees grow, were making a living selling the nuts to traders, who would then export them. In banning exports, the government argued it was protecting the industry from unscrupulous business persons who weren’t paying much for the nuts. The selling price of cashew nuts for export ranged from US $355 to US $440 per tonne; the government said the price should be higher.
Trade in the cashew nuts first attracted controversy when in 1994, the World Bank insisted with the government that the trade in cashew nuts must be liberalised, if Mozambique were to qualify for soft loans. The World Bank argued that if the trade were to be liberalised, local traders would get a fair price for their nuts.
Following this, the trade recorded a boom, but it was only short-lived as the exporters then dictated the prices they would pay for the nuts, and the farmers had no choice but to accept these prices.
In 1995, exporters were paying US $800 per tonne to the farmers, but four years later, prices fell rapidly and drastically, and farmers were having to accept US $300 per tonne. The exporters justified the low payouts as they said the nuts were of poor quality.
Just as the government announced the ban on exports, the cashew industry was reeling under a new problem — the trees which had been producing since the early 1970s, were being affected by a fungal disease, Pwedery Mildew, which cut down on the potential to produce more fruit.
Mozambique’s cashew nut industry was heading for disaster. But efforts are now underway to restore the industry’s fortune. The Cashew Nut Institute and the donor community are actively involved in the renewal programme. But it remains to be seen if their efforts will meet with success.
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