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Promoting equitable development of the cashew nut sector

Project

Agriculture and Rural Development
cashew
Project start date
Status

Ongoing

Project end date
Project duration
3 years
AFD financing amount
2000000 €
Country and region
Mozambique
Location
Maputo and Zambezia Province
Type of financing
The Trade Capacity Building Program
Beneficiaries
INCAJU
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The project aims to contribute to the strengthening of the cashew nut sector in order to allow a sustainable improvement of farmers' incomes while preserving natural resources.

Context

The cashew nut sector plays an important role in Mozambique's agricultural development strategy and food security. The one million cashew nut farmers in Mozambique are mostly  small producers living below the poverty line in the northern regions of the country (Nampula, Zambezia, Cabo Delgado) where cashew nuts accounts for one-third of the annual income of farmers. On the processing side, there are a dozen companies that represent about 15,000 jobs.

This sector therefore represents an important potential for reducing poverty, especially for small producers, as well as creating jobs and adding value through the local processing of cashew nuts.

However, it is clear that throughout this sector, the dialogue is unbalanced or absent between some parties due to lack of knowledge about the sector itself, as well as reliable information available at crucial times.

Description

The project will be structured around 2 main components:

  1. Capacity building of INCAJU – the public institution responsible for policy setting, definition of strategies and coordination of cashew industry  –  to ensure the management of the sector at the national level, notably through the strengthening of market information systems to a wide audience in the three northern provinces of the country: Zambezia, Nampula and Cabo Delgado;
  2. Implementation of a pilot project for an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable production of cashew nuts in the Gilé and Pebane districts, around the Gilé National Reserve.

The project will be able to support the rise of INCAJU as moderator between actors in the cashew nut sector, so that the interests of all are taken into account, in full transparency and on recognized factual grounds.

Impacts

  • Strengthening the market information system available to all actors;
  • Role of INCAJU strengthened for a better management of the sector;
  • Environmentally friendly production through the dissemination of new agro-ecology practices to the producers of the Zambezia pilot project.