Cashew Association to set agenda

The Ghana Cashew Industry Association says it is partnering the African Cashew Initiative (ACI) and the African Cashew Alliance (ACA) to create a conducive platform and set a national agenda for the country’s cashew-crop industry.

In a statement signed by the Executive Secretary of the association, Ms.Yayra Afua Amedzro said the Association is currently planning to officially launch its activities at Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region under the theme “Harnessing the economic and climatic benefits of cashew, the strategic non-traditional export commodity”.

The launch, which is planned to become an annual event to mark the largest gathering of cashew industry players in the country, will be attended by producers, processors, exporters, researchers and policy-makers, among others.

Cashew, like many other agricultural commodities, is a seasonal crop with large concentrations in the Brong Ahafo Region, although there are producers in other parts of the country including the Northern Region.

Cashew cultivation in the country started in the 1960’s with sporadic plantings in the Central and Greater Accra regions, and later spread into the Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions on a much wider scale.

However, between 1970 and 1980, the industry suffered a setback due to the absence of appropriate policies to support the development of an emerging industry. 

Low producer prices, underdeveloped market structures and inadequate information regarding appropriate husbandry practices for cashew caused farmers’ enthusiasm in the crop to wane considerably, and already established plantations were abandoned and left to the mercy of bushfires and fuel-wood collectors.

There are over 40,000metric tonnes (mt) of raw cashew nuts produced in the country, all in rural areas, creating employment for thousands with women in the majority and export figures averaging 80,000mt: with inflows from Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin going to major destinations such as India, Vietnam and Brazil.

It is therefore believed that the country’s production levels can be tripled over the next ten years if all players make a concerted effort to increase production.

Currently, Ghana has an installed processing capacity of 18,000mt; however, a new large processing plant will increase its capacity by 35,000mt when it begins operation next year.  A cashew-fruit processing plant is expected to be established at Koase near Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region.

This increase in processing capacity will make Ghana the leading cashew processing country in Africa in terms of capacity.  This means a longer value chain within the country and therefore more gains.

Every dollar that is spent directly on the country’s dynamic cashew industry sparks economic gains that echo far beyond cashew farmers and processors.

A study completed by the United States Agency for International Development and the West African Trade Hub found that for every US$1,000 in cashew sales by farmers, 120 jobs are created in the central region. 

That is 120 opportunities, 120 livelihoods, and that $1,000 dollars in cashew sales happened hundreds of thousands of times in the country last year alone.  As expected, such large impacts on labour also impact income levels.

The same study found out that for every US$1.00 in farm income from the sale of cashew, an additional US$1.43 of household income was created in the local economy.

The size of the cashew industry in Ghana, as a fraction of the country’s total economy, will probably surprise you.

Exports of the cashew crop account for 6% of Ghana’s total GDP, and 18% of the country’s agricultural GDP.  Behind the data and percentages, about 60,000 small holder farmers are fueling cashew production every day in the country on 60,000 total hectares of land.