Eat and drink

The Harvest is In
After the rains dry up the maize matures and harvesting has begun. Maize cobs are picked by hand, and dried at home, safe from the Baboons and Wild Pigs that plunder the fields.

Today there is food in the villages, people are happy and the worries of the hungry time are forgotten. Those with surplus maize thresh the cobs and get ready to sell it on the roadside, hoping someone will stop and buy. The cash income is used to buy clothes, cooking oil, soap and dried fish.

On the Market

Fruits such as mangos, papayas, oranges, bananas, pineapples, strawberries and peaches grow exceptionally well in Niassa. It is possible to buy good quality fruits on big quantities on the market during the season. Fruit juice can be made from bad quality cheap fruits as long as they are ripe and free of diseases.

Market opportunities

According to NGO projects Niassa’s climate is ideally suited to growing apples and pears and these were in fact produced on a large scale before the war. Now, however, the only apples available are those imported from South Africa or Zimbabwe and sold at a very high price. Money that should remain within the province is thus being sent to foreign countries because Niassa’s agricultural potential is not being fully realised.

According to NGO projects there is a considerable resource of wild honey in Niassa. This is of a high-quality and is organic. It is therefore of potential value to an international market. We believe that if sufficient quantities of honey were produced, we could find a market for it, not least in the Loja do Niassa. However, honey production is currently not sustainable as it is obtained by cutting or burning down trees. A programme is required both to educate people as to more sustainable methods of production and also to provide the necessary equipment, such as hives.

Pensão Namuli at Av Município-CUAMBA. Tel: 2716 25 84 Pensão Sossegado at Av Eduardo Mondlane-CUAMBA Tel: 2716 20 55 Bar/restaurante Chambo, Phone: 271 21354 Restaurante Planalto, Phone: 271 20385 Triângulo, Phone: 271 20630

O Gordo

Metangula:

Residencial Combinato Pesqueira Quiosque “Zokoma” Complexo Cetuka, Praia de Chiwanga