The African Cashew Alliance (ACA) announces the 14th annual Cashew conference set to take place from 9th – 11th September 2020 online, through zoom (Webinar ID: 935 2341 4110 Passcode: aca2020). The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, is one of many top personalities of the Agricultural sector who will be speaking at this year’s cashew conference. The three-day virtual conference features speakers across the world, including Burkina Faso’s Minister of Commerce, Industry and Handicrafts, Hon Harouna Kabora, director of crops at Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Seth Osei-Akoto, and Cashew research scientist with the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana, Dr. Paul Adu- Gyamfi. It also brings onboard experts within the cashew industry as well as industry players across the world. Head of Communications at the African Cashew Alliance, Ms. Blessing Okam, indicated that deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Hon George Oduro, who will be speaking on behalf of the ministry, is expected to address major issues of the cashew industry in Ghana. Hon Harouna Kabore, according to her, will be speaking on behalf of the Consultative International Cashew Council (CICC), the inter-ministerial body in charge of cashew in Africa, and is expected to talk about major policies and interventions at the regional level. On the theme of the conference: building a viable cashew value chain to withstand market disruptions, Ms. Okam said the keynote speaker, Ms. Atsuko Toda, will among other things, emphasize on the need for a proper collaboration between the private and public sectors in building a stronger cashew industry, especially in local processing. According to her, Ms. Toda, who is the director of Agricultural finance and Rural Development of the African Development Bank (AfRD) will stress on increasing cashew processing in Africa to bridge the gap between production and processing in the region. “We are in the midst of a pandemic, one of the things you will ask yourself is how we can keep the industry alive. One such is the private sector focus on processing and how we can bring the public sector on board to facilitate it for the private sector. So, she [Ms. Toda] is going to be speaking on processing at the origin,” she said in an interview. The conference also seeks to sensitize cashew industry players on vital and sensitive industry issues, including food safety and market information. “Because of the delicate nature of cashew, adhering to food safety standards in processing is one of the non-negotiables,” Ms. Okam said. She explained that the virtual conference is part of the ACA’s commitment to increase value addition in Africa through investment promotion and technical support. The ACA invites all to participate.