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  • Stakeholders target 500,000 metric tonnes of cashew 06/13/2022

    Jun 13th, 2022

    United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s West Africa PRO-Cashew and African Cashew Alliance(ACA) are working on increasing Nigeria’s cashew production to 500,000 metric tonnes yearly which could pull in at least $4 billion in foreign exchange earnings. Nigeria‘s production is estimated at 300,000 tonnes yearly. Speaking during the maiden policy dialogue with Nigeria Cashew Stakeholders in Lagos, organised by PRO-Cashew and ACA, in collaboration with other development partners, Chief of Party,Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) Jean Francois Guay noted that Nigeria was the second largest cashew producer and exporter, in West Africa with potential to increase exports if appropriate measures are taken to increase cashew productivity, quality and promote processing. According to him, there is the need to develop the cashew value chains and strengthening its integration into global markets, adding that it has the potential to generate inclusive rural employment through farming and industrialisation, thereby contributing to poverty reduction. He maintained that the cashew value chain was stymied by constraints, especially processing, calling for efforts to improve governance of the cashew value chain and enhance competitiveness and inclusiveness of small-scale farmers. Regional Policy Expert, Cashew Value Chain, PRO-Cashew, Shakti Pal observed that the sector needed restructuring to ensure proper earnings for local farmers and traders. According to him, the potential for cashew was very large due to the high demand in the market. He reiterated that there were positive signals that Nigeria could explore more opportunities in the global market to accelerate export of cashew y. To enter this market, he said measures must be taken to ensure quality of export products. Chairman, National Cashew Steering Committee, Roland Oroh, noted that Development Gateway (DG) is partnering with CNFA under the USDA West Africa PRO-Cashew project to develop the cashew-in data collection and analysis platform. The project, according to him, has identified gaps in the data collection, storage, usage and dissemination related to the cashew sector in all five implementing countries-Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Nigeria. The project, he continued is now working to address these gaps through a multi-country cashew data management system (Cashew-IN) that will facilitate access to and use of data to improve decision-making for policymakers, farmers, and the private sector. The ultimate goal, he added was s to generate better market outcomes for cashew nuts in these countries.


    Source: https://thenationonlineng.net/
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