This cohort, the first from the Cashew Nut Innovations and Technologies Center (CITA), made up of 45% women, began its training on nut processing techniques and technologies this Friday, September 15, 2023 in Yamoussoukro. cashew. According to Krishanu Chakravarty, project manager, Techno Serve Prosper Cashew, this training aims to provide a response to the need for skilled labor in the cashew processing industry. For him, this initiative, the first of its kind in West Africa, will create new jobs for young people and especially women to access positions of responsibility in the field of cashew nut processing. Côte d'Ivoire aims, by 2030, to transform 50% of its national cashew nut production with products that are more competitive on the international market. With the creation of industrial units, the country has “already achieved, to date, more than 25% of walnut processingâ€. Brahima Diagola, Chief Financial Officer, on behalf of the Director General of CITA, highlighted that one of the main objectives of this project is to address gender disparity in middle and senior management positions in the manufacturing industry. cashew processing. These students, he said, will be the future leaders of the cashew processing industry. Cashew nuts are an essential crop for Côte d'Ivoire with a contribution of more than 9% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). --- For his part, Soumahoro Bangali, Director General of CITA, representing the Director General of the Cotton and Cashew Council, Adama Coulibaly, praised the partners for the confidence placed in the council, the regulatory body, through that placed in the CITA. With the team of the NGO Techno Serve, he assured that this partnership will contribute to the development of the sector with the aim of developing, moreover, an industry for the production of cashew nut processing equipment Made in Côte d 'Ivory. The regional director of the Yamoussoukro Youth Employment Agency, Gertrude Agoua, who made the students available for this training, gave them wise advice like their godmother, Mrs. Massogbè Touré. The Techno Serve Prosper Cashew project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) aims to meet the needs of a growing cashew processing industry in the country. From 350,000 tonnes in 2010 to more than 1,040,000 tonnes produced in 2021, cashew nuts have become Côte d'Ivoire's second agricultural export product. The cashew sector is a real lever for economic and social development with a contribution of more than 9% to GDP in 2022