In a touch of creativity and the need to respond to constantly changing social dynamics, a solution emerged that transformed Mozambican social life: small peanut grinders and the electric coconut grater.
Raw peanut grinding machines and coconut grating machines are today a solution to streamline domestic work. Which is transforming life in Maputo neighborhoods and within families. If before, in the backyards of homes you could hear the noise of the pestle and the grater, nowadays, you see queues in the streets or in the markets, formed by women, men, young children, elderly people, looking for electric machines to grind. the peanuts and grating the coconut to then prepare the food, without the “archaic” process of traditional cuisine.
One of the impacts of the COVI-19 pandemic in the country was the increase in unemployment. Many companies closed and others reduced their workforce. Since, in most of the foods consumed by Mozambicans, the main seasoning is peanuts and coconut, these devices come to present a solution, not only for the entrepreneur, but also for that person who wants to alleviate the domestic work, which had, above all, , the burden on women’s lives.
Current numbers indicate that there are more women graduating compared to previous years, which implies that there are more women in the work sector. If, in our society, there is an understanding that domestic work is guided by women, it can be concluded that this innovation is a balm, since peanuts and coconuts can be crushed in large quantities and stored in a freezer. and/or glacier, which is a gain for the entrepreneur and opens a new era in families, after all, the prejudice of seeing a man crouching down to grate coconut or exerting force on the pestle, no longer prevents him from touching the pans for cooking food.
An average of 5 Meticais is charged for each cup of peanuts and the same happens with coconut, 5 Meticais each. There is no complaint, as it is an adequate and fair price for the monetary needs of most citizens and, therefore, services are easily accessible.
The gains from the machines are not immediate, since it works on an electrical basis and depends on the flow of customers. Even though it may seem like it, they don't consume a lot of energy.
Some young people from the city of Maputo, who work daily with dual-purpose machines – crushing peanuts and grating coconuts – are employed by someone and, on the other hand, some reinvented themselves in the business, saved their own money and acquired the machines.
But how did these machines emerge and spread throughout the country? The machines that can now be seen in any neighborhood first arrived in the country from China. But it didn't take long for a Mozambican to find a way to produce the machines locally. And one of them was the young locksmith Almeida Jorge, who in 2017 saw, in Tete, a machine that crushed peanuts. The latter, having been enchanted by the oriental innovation, decided to implement a similar one, which would be used in the Mozambican context, as he had metalworking talent at hand.
Almeida Jorge decided to create his own machine and sell it to other people. Although there were failures along the way, the end result was a success, with the market as testimony. Little can be heard, nowadays, about the need to acquire the pestle and the same can be said about the grater.
As time went by, the locksmith decided to create a two-function engine, which would be practical for grinding raw peanuts and grating coconut. That is, in a two-function machine.
This discovery made Almeida Jorge a bridge to the creation of emerging jobs for several young people, as he sold and also trained other young people to learn the trade. With facilities in the Municipality of Matola, nowadays it manufactures highly used machines and they are spread throughout the country and help to alleviate unemployment among young people and household chores.
By Joana Carlos
