Maputo,Sept 1, 2025 (Lusa) -Sitting outside a house in Maputo, darkened by the smoke of roasting cashew nuts, two women, both called Rosalina, support their families on the basis of a business that spans generations and is once again gaining strength in Mozambique:cashews.
In the Malanga neighbourhood, on the outskirts of the capital, the day begins at night for Rosalina Justino, 60, who starts roasting cashew nuts on a fire before sunrise.
"I wake up at three in the morning to start cracking the nuts, right then, there's not much time," Rosalina tells Lusa, sitting outside her house, made of zinc sheeting and darkened by the constant soot.
A cashew nut seller, she sits there most of the day, working on an artisanal process that involves roasting the nuts and cracking the kernels one at a time to fill the cups on display for customers.
Rosalina Justino complains about the price of the nuts, as well as the tiredness and stomach pains caused by the daily smoke, a routine she has followed for 30 years to pay the household bills and support her children's studies, some of whom are now at university.
Shee sadly recalls the time when she used to buy a mug of cashew nuts at the market for 50 meticais (€0.67) and now it costs three times as much, cutting into her earnings.
"There's little profit, there's not much profit because the nuts are expensive," she says, holding a bucket of roasted cashews, which she sells for 120 meticais (€1.60) a cup, while complaining about the lack of customers at the local market.
On 27 June, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the marketing of cashew nuts in Mozambique reached 195,400 tonnes in the last campaign, approaching the record set in the 1970s, when the country was one of the world's largest cashew nut producers.
Fifty years ago, during the colonial period, production reached more than 200,000 tonnes per year, with the current marketing campaign approaching this historic record in 2024/2025.
In addition to the trade and the routine, the two women also share a name, differing in age and the length of time they have been selling cashew nuts.
Next to Rosalina Justino is Rosalina Bule, 55, who has been in the business for 22 years, joining the chorus of stories shared between one batch and another, both with the common need to support their families.
"I went to Fajardo to buy nuts to roast and sell to feed my children," says the woman, wiping the sweat from her face with her coal-blackened hands, adding: "I may not be able to build a house here, but it's enough for me because I can eat and my children go to school."
On days when school isn't in session, the children help out and take the nuts to sell in downtown Maputo, while the mother also makes charcoal and cookies to earn a little more.
"Sometimes I sell charcoal and a broom there, something else, cake, but this is my profession," she explains.
The “Rosalinas” place the cashew nuts on a stone and, with a piece of iron, break the kernel to release it, a gesture they repeat hundreds of times a day.
"The corner (where they sell) is right here because this is home," agree the two women who, despite the scarcity, still have loyal customers who order the nuts regularly.
Still in the Malanga neighbourhood, in the Fajardo market, is Nelson, who has been travelling since 2008 to Inhambane province, also in southern Mozambique, to buy raw cashews to resell.
Like the “Rosalinas”, Nelson also complains about the instability of the business and little profit, with prices rising in Inhambane and his customers complaining in Maputo.
"We're always fighting with customers because not everyone accepts [the price]. But it has nothing to do with it, because the price there [in Inhambane] is unforgiving," says Nelson.
"The others are complaining [in the sense that] the chestnut is ours, it's from Mozambique," and that's why the price applied isn't justified, adds the trader, noting that despite the complaints, the chestnut doesn't stay on the stall for long.
"I can receive it today and tomorrow it's gone (...). Some people challenge us, who do this chestnut business and come to buy, and we keep the chestnuts for two days, three at the latest," said Nelson, for whom this business is also the basis of his survival.
Until the mid-1970s, Mozambique was the world's second largest cashew producer (210,000 tonnes processed in 1973), behind only India, which bought a large part of this production then and still does today.
After Mozambique's independence on 25 June 1975, production fell to around 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes a year, but has been growing annually, according to official historical data.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the cashew nut value chain "involves around 1,047,000 families, 69 companies and 7,287 workers throughout the country" and in Maputo province alone, this activity involves 32,168 families, being "the main consumption centre for almonds, generating countless business opportunities".
Mozambique's government estimates that cashew nut production, one of the country's main cash crops, will increase by 23% this year to 218,900 tonnes, with the area under cultivation also expected to rise.
In the thick smoke that rises from the embers, in the burnt husk that cracks with the fire, on the corner with no name, the “Rosalinas” resist the fatigue of years of supporting their families.
"I'm tired, my stomach also hurts from this fire, it's not easy. But what am I going to do? The kids want to eat too, they have to go to school," concludes Rosalina Justino.
LN (PVJ) // ANP
Lusa/Fim
