The workshop on bilateral cooperation in the cashew industry was held on December 19-20 by the Vietnamese Embassy in Mozambique, INCAJU, and Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and Cashew Industry Association (AICAJU).
It also drew representatives from AICAJU member businesses, cashew growing provinces such as Gaza, Nampula, Zambezia and Cabo Delgado, along with Vietnamese entrepreneurs.
The INCAJU Director said cashew plays an important role in Mozambique’s agricultural development and food security strategy. He expressed admiration at the considerable development of Vietnam’s cashew industry.
Mozambique wants Vietnam to transfer technology and help train personnel in the field, he said, calling on Vietnamese businesses to grow and invest in cashew processing lines to help his country boost exports.
Briefing participants about Vietnam’s cashew industry, Vietnamese Ambassador to Mozambique Nguyen Van Trung emphasised that after only more than 15 years, Vietnam has become the No. 1 cashew nut exporter in the world with lots of experience and advanced techniques in planting, harvesting and processing cashew.
More and more Vietnamese enterprises are interested in the cashew industry in Mozambique and seek partnership and investment opportunities there, he noted.
He asked Vietnamese firms to point out obstacles to their business in the African nation and asked local authorised agencies to tackle those problems and facilitate their operations, thereby contributing to the local cashew industry’s expansion.
During the time of the Portuguese colonialism, Mozambique was the biggest cashew grower and exporter in Africa with an output of over 200,000 tonnes per year between 1973 and 1975.
Its Government has approved a master plan for the cashew industry development until 2020, aiming to turn cashew into one of the key exports in the near future.
However, the country is facing certain difficulties as a lack of modern planting and processing technologies and cashew products’ low quality. Its annual cashew output now is just about 100,000 tonnes with productivity of under 1 tonnes per hectare. Less than 50 percent of the output is shipped abroad.
During the workshop, Vietnamese and Mozambique cashew companies discussed the local legal framework for raw cashew shipment, cooperation in cashew planting, and investment in processing.
Participants also visited some cashew factories and had a working session with Mozambique’s Ministry of Industry and Trade to solve issues facing Vietnamese firms in exporting raw cashew to Vietnam.
Source: VNA