Enterprise Development

Liberalisation, Gender and Livelihoods: Cashew nuts in Mozambique and India, IIED, 2003

Implementing agency(ies)		Int. Inst. for Environment and Development (IIED)
Funding agency(ies)		Development Cooperation Ireland, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dutch Govt.
Date completed		November 2003
Geographic setting(s)		Rural
Sub-sector(s)		Cashews
Issues/challenges		Globalisation processes and economic liberalisation are leading to fundamental changes in the livelihood sources and strategies of different groups all over the world. IIED, in collaboration with partners in Mozambique and South India, has developed a research programme on gender, markets and livelihoods in the context of globalisation. The programme responds to a policy concern that more empirical work is needed to understand the effects of economic liberalisation on poverty reduction and gender equality. The research to date has focused on the cashew sectors in Mozambique and India. India is the world�s largest exporter of processed cashew nuts and also the biggest buyer of Mozambican raw nuts. There is a growing market for cashew nuts in Europe and the USA, with new markets opening up in other parts of the world, for example, Russia and Japan. Cashew provides an important source of income and food security for smallholder producers and for low-income groups, particularly women, who work in the processing sector in both Mozambique and India. Objectives: - Map changes which have taken place in cashew production and processing relating to liberalisation policies in both countries - Examine the effects of changes on the livelihoods, employment and labour conditions of cashew producers and workers, giving voice to their own views - Identify initiatives which could enhance the livelihoods of disadvantaged groups Another main objective of the Mozambique case study is capacity building of local researchers.
Country(ies)		India, Mozambique

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