Power without responsibility: the World Bank & Mozambican cashew nuts

Abstract

Mozambique's cashew nut production failed to recover after the 1982–92 war, with serious implications for peasant producers and workers in the country's single largest industry. Cashew has the potential to regain its role as a major sector of the Mozambican economy, and this article looks at the fundamental problems relating to the growing and processing of cashew. Next, the article shows how contradictory World Bank‐imposed policies prevented Mozambique from resolving these problems. Cashew shows that World Bank staff sometimes have unchecked power to impose policies on poor countries, with no need to justify their actions. The article concludes by asking if the World Bank can be sole judge of the success of its policies.