Currently the world's second largest producer behind Vietnam, Nigeria produces about 835,000 tonnes of cashew a year, of which 180,000 tonnes are exported. Yesterday, Pastor Tola Faseru, the president of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria, revealed that apart from the fact that demand is on the rise, prices are on the up too, so income is set to rise with time.
He added that Vietnam and India remained Nigeria’s largest buyers as both of them purchase the nuts to use in their food processing industries. Globally, stocks of nuts, including cashew, in North America and Europe had been low, while global demand had increased, offering good prospects for the Nigerian cashew industry this year.
According to Pastor Faseru, global demand for cashews has been forecast to go up in 2016, so he urged exporters to pay more attention to improving product quality and ensure hygiene and food safety are enhanced to enable exports.
He said the industry wants to increase Nigeria's cashew cultivation area, nationwide and increase acreage from the current 366,000 acres to 500,000 acres by 2020. According to Pastor Faseru, the association was working with farmers and the government to develop cashew growing areas and giving technical support to growers to help them increase profits.
To enable Nigeria improve its position as a major cashew exporter, he said the association decided to hold a meeting with operators across the value chain in order to reduce the transit time for exports. Pastor Faseru told exporters and farmers that forging a united front can help revamp the sector was crucial in global cashew sustainability.
With Nigeria's over-dependency on crude oil for export earnings, efforts have been made of late to diversify the economy, with agriculture seen as a huge untapped resource. Of late, cash crops like cocoa, cashews, cassava, kola nuts and shea nuts are all seen as cash cows that could generate huge sums in foreign exchange.
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