Experts in Cashew build capacity to transform sector in Africa


The need to leverage knowledge sharing and technical expertise within the Cashew Sector Value Chain has been identified as key if Ghana and the rest of Africa can increase the competitiveness of Cashew as a leading non-traditional export cash crop. 

This came to light at the opening of the first session of the fifth edition of the Master Training Program for Cashew Value Chain Promotion in Africa organized by Competitive  Cashew Initiative (ComCashew) in partnership with the African Cashew Alliance, ACA, with support from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Cocoa Research Institute Ghana. 

Global Demand for cashew nuts is said to be growing as in the past ten years, cashew consumption in India has more than doubled. That of Europe has grown by 30% with China tipped as a strong market potential.

Meanwhile, Africa is the only continent with the opportunity to supply this demand through increased yield and investment in processing. 

But it is however worrying that while the continent accounts for 53% of global raw cashew production, it processes less than 10% of this. 

However, according to ComCashew, there is value addition potential of 2.8 billion dollars annually with likely employment of 275,000 people in the processing plants. 

The week-long program therefore seeks to increase the knowledge and experience of African Cashew experts along the value-chain and to further promote the competitiveness of African Cashew. 

Attended by more than 80 cashew experts from 12 countries across the continent, it is expected to discuss best practices and lessons as well as build a solid nexus for future collaboration. 

The Executive Director, ComCashew, Rita Weidinger, called for policy interconnection among the ministries of Food and Agriculture, Local Government and Finance that gives a strong positive outlook for the private sector to lead the transformation agenda.

She disclosed that the ComCashew project will soon be expanded to 20 more countries across Africa and urged participants to make full use of the knowledge to surmount the challenges in the sector. 

While lauding Ghana's achievement in improving the quality and supply of seedlings to farmers Madam Weidinger called for more to be done in the area of processing.

The deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of perennial crops,  Kennedy Osei Nyarko maintained that government is committed to diversifying agriculture in the country by shifting focus on Cocoa to Cashew among other non-traditional cash crops. "We know the potential in the cashew industry; cashew has a lot of potential. Economic wise, whatever, Government don't want to focus only on cocoa...", he opined. 

Cashew apart from its economic value also possesses high nutritional value and associated health benefits. It is a highly resilient crop with proven ability to offset the effects of climate change and pest infestation. 

The Competitive Cashew initiative is a private-public partnership project under the implementation of the  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), which is the development corporation under the German Government.

Story by: Nana Agyeman-Prempeh


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