Nigeria’s Cashew to Rake $4bn if Production Hits 500,000 tons

Bennett Oghifo

Nigeria‘s cashew production put at about 300,000 metric tonnes annually has been primed to hit 500,000 metric tonnes yearly with a potential of raking in $4 billion.

These are positive projections that could materialise through a collaborative initiative of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), West Africa PRO-Cashew and African Cashew Alliance (ACA), as presented at the first policy dialogue with Nigeria Cashew Stakeholders in Lagos, recently. The dialogue was organised by PRO-Cashew and ACA, in collaboration with other development partners, Nigeria Cashew Stakeholders.

Chief of Party, Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) Jean Francois Guay stated that Nigeria was currently, the second  largest cashew producer and exporter, in West Africa with potential to increase exports if appropriate measures were taken  to increase cashew productivity, quality and promote processing.

Guay said there was a need to develop the cashew value chains and strengthen its integration into global markets, adding that it  had “big potential to generate inclusive rural employment through farming and industrialization, thereby contributing to poverty reduction.“

According to him, the cashew value chain was  stymied by several constraints, especially processing, calling for  more efforts to  improve governance of the cashew value chain and enhance competitiveness and inclusiveness of small-scale farmers. 

Regional  Policy Expert,Cashew Value Chain,Procashew,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, said noted   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 of the 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.

Oroh, posited that there was no al organized way of aggregating cashew sector data, even though large amounts of data reside in public and private sector organizations and institutions with a mandate to work on the research, production, and trade in cashew products. Currently, he observed that institutions such as the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN); the Federal Ministry of Agriculture; the Federal Ministry of Industry; Trade and Investment (FMITI); Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC); Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS); and the Nigeria Agribusiness Register (NAR) all have bits and pieces of cashew data. All data, he stressed have to be aggregated, and presented in a way that gives value to the different users of the data. 

He said the plan is to establish a single data platform which will provide information to all categories of users.

Country Representative, Nigeria, West Africa PRO-Cashew, Olorunfemi Toyin, explained that the PRO-Cashew project began in Nigeria this year with the commissioning of a baseline survey to identify the challenges in the Cashew sector. Similarly, he said additional research was conducted to gain a better understanding of the Nigeria Cashew Chain.

 The goal of  the  effort, he maintained  was  to inform the deployment of activities and efficient methodologies that will address the existing gaps in the a cashew sector, especially since the PRO-Cashew project seeks to boost the competitiveness of West African cashew producers by improving efficiency and quality in trade and production. 

Head Cashew Desk, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ohinoyi Christopher Adava said  Federal Government has shown a strong interest in supporting the growth and development of the cashew sector through collaborations with development partners, distribution of improved planting materials, distribution of agro-chemicals and jute bags to smallholder cashew farmers, establishment of modular processing facilities, and inclusion of cashew as a priority commodity for import substitution. 

He said the reason for the  policy dialogue with stakeholders to align stakeholders’ interests and propose recommendations for the sector’s growth.

According to him, the Federal Government is working with  the private sector to carry out research-based activities, build the capacity of smallholder cashew farmers, and distribute quality planting materials to farmers. 

As part of measures to know the accurate data of agricultural yields  in Nigeria, yearly, Assistant Director, Head Agric Statistics Division,National Bureau of Statistics ,Bishop Olubo-Ojo Ohioma, said the agency ,  together with World  Bank and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) will embark on the National Agriculture Sample Census. NBS is set to conduct the National Agricultural Sample Census (NASC) after 28 years.

He  said that the exercise is critical and it would involve the enumeration of all agricultural activities in the country, including crop production, fisheries, forestry, and livestock activities.

According to him, conventionally, the agriculture census is meant to be conducted every five to 10  years in line with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) standards.

Regardless, cashew processors in Nigeria are concerned they are having unfair competition with foreign buyers of Raw Cashew Nuts, particularly those from India and Vietnam.

Giving reasons for his statement and why he thinks cashew processors should be allowed to buy directly from farmers, the Head of Procurement, Sonata Agri International Ltd., Bishnu Pattanaik said first there was the issue of “Stock Holding: We will get raw cashew nuts for 45 to 60 days to use in the whole year unlike the Indian and Vietnamese who are getting RCN (Raw Cashew Nuts) throughout the year. So, they don’t need to block the capital on raw material.”

He said secondly, there is the issue of “Interest Rate: The interest rate is high in Nigeria,” and thirdly, “Market for all output: All the output in India and Vietnam is sold out. All the dust and shells are all sold out. Whereas in Nigeria we struggle to sell below exportable quality. This sales proceeding is taking care of their cost of production.”

There is also “Power Cost: Normal standard of power cost for cashew processing is around 5% of total cost of production. Whereas it is 35% in Nigeria; Availability of Spare parts and packing material: The machinery being produced in India and Vietnam compel us to hold critical spare in anticipation of breakdown. If we are unable to anticipate, then production may suffer more than a month, it may lead to hazard.

“Protected Market: India is the largest market in the world. The import duty on RCN: import to India is 2.5%, whereas the import of cashew kernel is 70%. In short, they (Indians) can carry raw cashew nuts to India, and we can’t send finished products to India.

“Vietnam until 2018 was protected by the Government for 20 years. In west Africa Cote D’ivoire, Benin and few other countries are highly protected,” he said, calling on the federal government to assist cashew processors in Nigeria with good policies/laws and other positive structures to improve the situation.