Lioma itself was founded as a boma by the Portuguese to secure the area[3][6] after they had defeated a regional chief, Namarohi, who had offered heavy resistance to the colonial army.

[8] In August 1918, the Germans attacked the village to capture its supplies, but the British managed to repel them in the subsequent Battle of Lioma.

[11][12] The Agricultural Complex of Lioma (CAPEL), as the state farm was named, planted soybeans and other crops with development aid from Brazil.

[4] The farm was abandoned in the 1980s, however, when state agents and civilians fled Lioma due to the Mozambican Civil War.

[12] After the civil war ended, farmers returned to Lioma and began to cultivate the land on a larger scale than before.

[13] A major change took place in Lioma in 2009 when the Mozambican government awarded 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) that had belonged to the old state farm to the Portuguese company Quifel.

[1][17] Located around 600 metres (2,000 ft) above sea level in the highlands of western Mozambique, Lioma lies in a valley formed by a stream.