Maputo, Mozambique, 17 Aug – The pineapple produced in Muxungué, in Mozambique’s Sofala province, remains without a market, which is made worse because construction work on an industrial unit to process the fruit has yet to begin, according to Mozambican daily newspaper, Notícias.

The newspaper said that some time ago a project was put forward costing between US$3 and US$5 million to set up an industrial unit in that location to process the pineapple into a variety of products for sale on the domestic , regional and European market.

Specifically, the project’s designers were proposing to produce pineapple juice, concentrate, dried and canned pineapple.

Speaking to Notícias, the Director of the District Services for economic Activities, Paz Martinho, said that the process of installing the factory had not yet been put into place.

“Construction work for the factory has not begun and that is giving the producers problems as they had hoped to find a secure and viable market on which to place their product,” said Paz Martinho.

The pineapple producers in Muxungué district recently received international certification allowing them to export their products to the regional and European markets.

There are currently around 500 pineapple producers in Muxungué, most of which are grouped into five associations in the area, which together farm around 3,000 hectares of land with an estimated yield of 56,000 tons per year, which is the equivalent of around 7,500 pineapples per hectare. (macauhub)