<p></p><p>Maputo, Mozambique, 1 Feb – Eight Mozambican provinces are this year set to grow 3.3 million cashew saplings, a source from he National Cashew Institute (Incaju) told Macauhub in Maputo. The saplings will be produced in the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Zambézia, Manica, Sofala, Inhambane, Gaza and Maputo and will benefit 60,000 people. Nampula province, in northern Mozambique, is expected to produce the most saplings – 1.5 million – followed by the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Zambézia, with 400,000 saplings each.</p> <p>Inhambane province, the biggest cashew producer in the south of the country, will produce 350,000 saplings and, along with the saplings 4.5 million cashew trees will be sprayed.The cashew industry is considered to be strategic for the Mozambican economy and the government plans to return the country to its former position as one of the world’s biggest cashew producers.The Cashew Master Plan 2011/2020 outlines that the cashews sold in the country will rise from 100,000 tons per year currently to 180,000 tons by 2020, according to Incaju.The sector intends to increase the amount of cashew nuts that are processed within Mozambique from 30,000 tons to 100,000 tons.At one point in the 1970s the country was the world’s largest cashew producer with record sales of over 200,000 tons. </p><p> </p><br><p></p>