<p></p><p>The National Cashew Association of Nigeria has announced that the industry is currently earning N24 billion - $150 million US - through domestic and export trade.The Publicity Secretary of the association, Mr. Anga Sotonye said that with more encouragement from the Federal Government the figure could be even higher.</p> <p>Sotonye stated, "as it stands today cashew trees in Nigeria are an endangered crop and most of the cashew trees are turned into firewood, charcoal and some farmers are cutting down there cashew trees and replacing them with crops that can fetch more money. If this trend continues, we may wake up some day to find that Nigeria no longer grows cashew. As bad as it is today Nigeria is the 4th largest producer of cashew nuts in Africa but if the right attention is given to the sector, Nigeria can become number one because we have all that it takes." </p><p>He said the country produces in the region of 120,000 tons of cashews per annum, 95% of which are sold for export trade.He suggested that the government should invest in the cashew processing centres that will add value to the industry and called also for wider planting of cashew trees.He stated: "We have to plant 300,000 new high yielding cashew varieties between 2013 and 2014 to gradually replace the over aged cashew trees. There is need to provide jute bags at subsidised rates to pack our raw cashew nuts after harvest and retain the quality and integrity of our raw product. </p><p>"This way we will create jobs, empower our people and protect our market."He pointed out the Nigerians often paid premium prices for imported nuts from retailers and indicated that this was evidence of an untapped domestic market."The simple question begging for answer is, why do we import processed cashew nuts?" </p><p> </p><br><p></p>