MAPUTO – Sociedade de Desenvolvimento da ZambĂ©zia, Lda. (SDZ) plans to harness the potential of the GuruĂ© tea plantation region in Mozambique in order to make tea derivatives such as wine and medicine, in addition to the tea itself, a company representative said.
Thiruvarangan Sridhar, a representative of SDZ, an Indian- and Mozambican-owned company, told daily newspaper Noticias that the idea is to mass produce the various types of teas and their derivatives, including “Tea Wine”, which will make Mozambique the first producer of this drink in Africa.
Sridhar recalled that Gurué was once considered the largest tea producing region in the southern hemisphere and its product was exported all over the world in the 1960s with 14 factories processing more than 21,000 tons of tea for foreign markets.
Currently, only four companies continue to operate in Gurué. They are facing problems such as poor product quality and highly competitive markets.
Nina Patel, of the SDZ board of directors, told the newspaper that the company plans to introduce working methods that add value to products derived from the tea plant. The first step in doing this will be to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of India.
