Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest producer of cashew nuts, officially launched the cashew nut marketing campaign for the year 2022 on Friday, targeting 1.04 million tonnes against 968,676 tonnes recorded in 2021. Bêh Soro, in his dual capacity as President of the OIA Anacarde and the Centrale de Cajou, undertakes to contribute to the achievement of this objective. In this interview, he talks about the future of the sector. ► You have just been invested president of Oia Anacarde, can you present this organization to us? The OIA Anacarde is the agricultural inter-branch dedicated to the Cashew sector in Côte d'Ivoire. The various missions of this organization are multiple but we retain a few essentially, the cohesion between the actors of the sector, the cleaning up of the marketing chain from the producer to the processor, the increase in the operating capacities of all the actors and especially the nationals so as to allow them a sustainability of their activities. ► What is your first battle to restore this nascent umbrella? For me, it is to enhance the value chain at each level. Set up a system aimed at improving the living conditions of producers, observing good agricultural practices, offering quality products to buyers and exporters to develop their activity, while preserving or improving the existing Ivoire label. ► Can you tell us about the position of Côte d'Ivoire in terms of cashew nut production? The cashew sector has more than 450,000 producers with a production of more than 1 million tonnes in 2021. This keeps Côte d'Ivoire as the world's leading producer. This year 2022, the data will increase more. ► How much is the farm gate price per kilogram set by the State this year? The State has renewed the price at 305 FF Cfa which is relative to the price of the 2021 campaign. I take this opportunity to thank the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, HE Mr. Alassane Ouattara, in his desire to support the agricultural sector in particular, that of cashew. We participated with the regulator, the cotton-cashew council (CCA), in determining the price which goes through a matrix system called scale. According to this matrix, the residual price which should return to the producer was 293 F Cfa. But, the State looked at the difficulties of the actors by renewing the price at 305 F Cfa despite the increase in port charges on exports due to the Covid-19 situation. ► In your field, are there penalties applied to buyers who do not comply with 305 F Cfa, the fixed price for the 2022 campaign? There are always penalties provided by the regulator because there can naturally be pisteurs who do not comply with the rules on the ground. The CCA monitors the situation by fully playing its role through the departmental monitoring committees. But so far, there must be no serious fraud. ► You, who are primarily responsible for this new umbrella, can you list some of the difficulties encountered by producers? Producers face several challenges. There is the problem of productivity which arises, the problem of quality linked to the climate varying by region. Côte d'Ivoire has 19 producing regions but the yield varies from one orchard to another. An orchard is an area of ​​land devoted to the cultivation of fruit trees. It is the run-of-mine that people use to make their orchard. For this, it is not part of the same selection in terms of plants. It should be noted that the average yield in Côte d'Ivoire is 500 kilos per hectare unlike India which is 10 times this yield (5 tons per hectare). It is therefore necessary to look for a variety or varieties that solve several problems, adapting to each region so as to have a universal quality to safeguard the ivory label. This variety selection should also be accessible to other intercrops (food crops among others, rice, corn, etc.). ► Compared to 2020, what is the local cashew processing capacity in 2021? The year which has just ended, we are at 14% of national transformation. This is a percentage that remains far from the objective of the Ivorian State, which is to transform 50% of production locally. Today, Côte d'Ivoire has several raw cashew nut processing factories. The initiative consolidates the cashew value chain. ► What are these issues? The government of Patrick Achi aims to transform all its production to boost the income of producers. I would like this transformation, which is part of the State project, to be a chain of values ​​so that the major players, the producers, are the first beneficiaries. For this vision of the State to have a direct impact on the income of the producer, we invite the Ivorian government via the regulator to gradually multiply its initiatives by deploying the means to enable producers to be entrepreneurs, by setting up proximity units, semi-motorized units. These mechanical, artisanal shelling factories will promote semi-processing by the latter. The products of this semi-processing called Non-Depelliculated Almonds (AND) will be transferred to modern units established in each region by the competent authorities via the CCA. Already on the processing chain, the added value that is released is more or less shared between the finished processor and the semi-processor, the producer. When we set up these different factories in the localities of production, this creates competitiveness in the said localities through the valorization of the raw nut. Our parents will no longer have an interest in going to neighboring countries to sell their productions. Moreover, it is a source of employability in production localities. For example, a modern unit employs less than a semi-motorized one. Therefore, the implementation of this initiative fights unemployment in rural areas by stimulating the direct income of the producer. ► Is cashew nut consumption popular with the Ivorian population? Everything is linked to a culture or food attitudes. This means that we must show interest in consuming our almonds and other cashew derivatives locally. The population must soak up the virtues of the cashew nut. Europe and America are the first continents where the inhabitants consume more derivatives of this product. If demand is strong in Western countries, it is obviously because it has no negative impact on the human body. As the world's leading producer, it is important to encourage local consumption of finished cashew products. This is how the cashew nut will be valued.