Maputo, May 18, 2026 (Lusa) - Artisans in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, survive by making and selling handmade straw baskets, bags and furniture on city pavements, an informal activity providing the sole income for entire families who rely on orders and occasional customers.
Lucas Agostinho Dzimba, 37, displays baskets, hampers and small bags made of straw and sisal every day from a small improvised stall between the busy Mao Tse Tung and Kim Il Sung avenues in the capital.
Traffic and potential buyers pass by daily, although he does not always find customers.
“I go three, four or five days without selling anything. But sometimes, on the day I do make a sale, it makes up for the lost days,” the artisan told Lusa.
He has been selling on the street since 2019 after leaving a job as a driver, and this craft has brought lucky days when he returned home with 7,000 meticais (€93) to 9,000 meticais (€119.9) in sales.
Lucas said he makes some products himself, while others arrive from Inhambane province in southern Mozambique, where the straw-weaving tradition spans generations.
He buys some materials at Xipamanine market, the capital's largest informal trading hub, and acquires other types of fibres from the neighbouring country of Eswatini.
The artisan produces women's bags, bottle holders and decorative table mats for plates and kitchen utensils alongside traditional baskets and hampers.
He recently completed an order for more than 20 straw holders for a city restaurant.
The artisan mobilises up to five people, including relatives and assistants, to speed up production when larger orders arise.
“The main focus is orders. Orders build a man. When you have orders, you could even be here with a van doing Yango (ride-hailing mobile application) and selling baskets,” he said, expressing a desire to improve his future and adding that weekends are peak sales days.
Lucas supports several relatives with his earnings and lives with his stepmother, a niece and two children, frequently facing periods with no sales.
“Staying at home without electricity or rice, coming out here to the roadside, and going three or four days without even buying a loaf of bread is a huge difficulty,” he said.
Helio Daniel works just a few metres from Lucas's improvised stall, assembling new pieces.
He learnt the craft from relatives when he was young and now produces vases, lamps, bags and decorative baskets.
“I learnt from my grandfather in Inhambane about 10 or 12 years ago. Later, I also studied at school, where I learnt many things, and I decided to follow this work,” he said.
The production process includes drying the straw and preparing it in pots with dyes to create colourful pieces which attract foreign visitors and local customers.
“We have small and medium lamps, and baskets of various sizes. The price depends on the size and also on the customer. A medium basket costs about 400 meticais (€5),” the artisan said, adding that he reinvests part of the money from each sale into buying new material to maintain production.
“Various people buy them, for example, people from abroad – Portugal, America, Spain, Italy, several countries. Local people do too,” he said, adding that the activity helps with daily expenses and feeding his son, but is insufficient to support the many relatives he lives with.
Another artisan, António Bila, 53, dedicates himself to producing larger furniture made with iron and straw along Marginal avenue, near Costa do Sol beach. His products include chairs, bookshelves, chests of drawers and wardrobes.
“I started doing this here when I was around 15 to 17 years old. I was going to school at the time, so I learnt this in the 1980s and 1990s,” he said, noting that he first made baskets but later wanted to “make big things.”
António works with a small team of five people, including relatives and assistants, to produce the furniture, which can take up to one week to complete.
An unpainted five-seater set with a table costs 21,000 meticais (€300), the artisan explained.
This activity provides the sole source of income for his family of five children, though they also depend on occasional customer visits.
“Sometimes I go a month without selling anything, but we do not stop producing because we know that one day a buyer will appear. Many people own lodges in the Macaneta and Bilene [beach] areas, and they buy the most,” he said.
The rainy season adds to production difficulties, as workers harvest the straw used for furniture in areas like Inhambane and Ponta do Ouro, where rain limits access.
The artisan, who works outdoors by the roadside near the sea, also calls for better conditions for local producers.
“These are beautiful items, but it does not look good for a customer to pick things up from the ground like this to put in their home,” António Bila said.
The artisans continue to produce daily alongside the road lined with colourful baskets, straw bags and handmade furniture. They hope that passing customers and new orders will secure a livelihood for the families who depend on this traditional craft.
EYMZ/LYT // ADB.
Lusa
