Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has lamented the current state of cashew production in Nigeria, stating that the country’s production capacity is now been overtaken by some African countries like Ghana, Cote D’ Ivoire and Guinea Bissau.
This was made known in Lokoja by the Trade Promotion Advisor, NEPC, Mrs. Amina Abdulmalik, at a workshop organized to provide technical support on best practices and standardization required to enhance the capacity of cashew farmers and processors in the state.
The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and NEPC have initiated approaches to reposition the cashew value chain for success, leading to formation of thirteen National Strategic Export Products (NSEP) to expand non-oil sector growth and cashew was recognized as one of the five priority agro-industrial products (others being palm oil, cocoa, sugar, and rice), among the thirteen NSEP.
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The production areas for cashew is mostly concentrated in the East in Enugu, Abia, Imo, Anambra and Ebonyi : West in Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, and Ogun states and Middle Belt area in Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, Niger and the FCT.
Abdulmalik decried that while majority of Nigerian cashew farmers still depends largely on aging cashew from the wild, most of their counterpart from other countries grows high yield varieties with short gestation period that are suitable for the international market.
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“In order to reverse the trend and increase significantly the annual production output of the country, there is the need to support the farmers and processors with the requisite technical knowledge through an intensive capacity building workshop.
She stated that the council has supported the development of export value chain in cashew processing in recent time to show how passionate and committed the council is towards the development of non-oil export.
