afrol News, 19 April - Mozambique has reported the biggest cashew nut production in three years. The once world cashew export leader sees its industry recovering slowly.

According to reports from the country, the season's production has topped 95,000 tonnes, mostly thanks to favourable weather conditions.

The director of the national cashew institute (INCAJU), Filomena Maiópuè was reported in the local press saying the southern part of the country was the most fortunate and suitable to have achieved the bumper crop.

The national cashew nut institute said this year's produce also well within the target of 100,000 tonnes of raw cashew, also adding that the price was also very good for the farmers this year.

Mozambique's cashew season starts in October and ends in March, but due to extended flowering of cashew trees this season as well as the selling period, it is expected that the season will be extended to the end of April.

While this year's cashew crop is among the best during the last decade, production is however still significantly lower than in the peaking 1970s, when Mozambique was the world's leading producer. The civil war and poor maintenance brought the cashew industry to its knees by the mid-90s.

Since then, however, massive investments in cashew production has seen Mozambique's main cash crop to recover slowly.