<p></p><p>Cashew growers in Akwari community and other locations in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State have bemoaned the poor patronage of their nuts.They spoke to the Southeast Report during an interaction with them and distributors.Cashew business is lucrative in the area, as is trade in pepper, cassava, palm oil.Cashew plants cover about 700 acres of land in the area.But the growers and distributors of cashew nuts face such challenges as poor road network and lack of storage facilities.These challenges cause the farmers and traders to sell at giveaway prices.A distributor of cashew nuts in the area and clan head of Ugwuomu and Onicha communities, Pa Jonathan Ugwuanyi lamented that the poor patronage was due to lack of good market system causing some of the farmers to travel as far as Orba and Obollo markets where they sell their products at low prices. <br></p> <p>He said: “I have about 100 acres of cashew plantation, but the problem is that we have poor road and being cheated.”“If we have the facility we would have built a market in Akwari, everybody and government will be coming to buy cashew from us, but the cashew nuts are being wasted here,” he said.Also, Mr. Cornelius Eze said that the community is endowed with cashew plants and therefore, it was a veritable cash crop in the area.“Before, buyers from Anambra and Enugu states came to survey how we can be transporting the cashew nuts, but because of poor road they could not make a deal with us. Nobody from outside is coming to buy from us, we are just wasting it here,” he said.He continued: “In every harvesting season, some farmers produce about 20 to 30 kg bags of cashew nuts”.He therefore called on the governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi to construct the only road and a market for them in the area.<br></p><p></p>