July 19, 2019
The untapped potentials of cashew once again came to light at the recent annual general meeting (AGM) of National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) where it was disclosed that the country’s cashew production hit 260,000 tonnes this year from 90,000 tonnes in 2011. Taiwo Hassan reports
Images by IT
I deally, the rebirth of the country’s agriculture under the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been applauded in many quarters because of the attention the administration gave to agriculture to re-jig the country’s non-oil sector.
Similarly, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has also played a key role towards revamping the moribund agriculture sector by rolling out intervention funds that have helped to galvanize and turn around the sector for steady growth and development.
However, one of the leading agric commodities, cashew, has been a money spinner for the country’s economy following the rate of sustainable development being achieved in terms of production, exports and accrued revenue.
Money spinners
Interestingly, the turnaround in the country’s cashew sector has seen the commodity being listed among non-oil exports, where the Federal Government intends to generate about $30 million.
Other agric commodities in the export list include ginger, cocoa products, hibiscus, sesame seeds, columbite for use in alloys, monalite for use in engineering and zircon.
Speaking during a meeting with President Buhari in Abuja recently, the Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Segun Awolowo, disclosed that Nigeria, within the next 10 to 15 years, could earn about $150 billion from non-oil revenue sources.
Particularly, he said that the successful implementation of a zero oil plan would significantly increase foreign exchange earnings for the country.
“The zero oil plan is about raising production and productivity. We identified 22 sectors where we can earn foreign exchange apart from oil. We are hoping that in the next 10-15 years we will be able to raise $150 billion from sources outside oil,” Awolowo said.
In fact, cashew was identified as juicy crop in non-oil export because of its high return on investment.
This in return has buoyed the country’s non-oil export revenue for this fiscal year.
In the same vein, the Federal Government also announced that it was planning to get more cashew nut processing machines nationwide to enable the country double export earnings from $800 million to $1.7 billion.
A former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who dropped the hint, stated that government was already thinking of completing the building of cashew nut processing facilities nationwide in order to boost processed cashew nut export and earn more foreign exchange.
He explained that government would be working with cashew nut processors and other relevant associations in the country to ensure the success of the facility in order to bolster production.
He described cashew nut as one of the key non-oil exports that the current administration is looking at in order to increase its revenue base, adding that its contribution to national export earnings had been on a steady increase since 2015.
Production capacity
The National Cashew Association of Nigeria during its annual general meeting in Lagos stated that Nigeria’s cashew production had hit 260,000 tons this year from 90,000 tons in 2011.
However, the members attributed the increase to the Babatola Faseru-led executive’s efforts to promote cashew production in the country.
NCAN said it had been able to improve local, national and international image for cashew brand.
The association said it focused on the key gaps inhibiting growth in the business that will help to rebuild the sector’s potential, stimulate growth, and enable smallholder farmers to raise their incomes and yields, while creating jobs for young people and raising income for women.
Nigeria is rated the fourth largest producer of cashew nuts in Africa and seventh in the world with the bulk of its cashew nuts and cashew kernels exported to Vietnam and India.
NCAN then called on government to allot funds and create schemes to increase cashew nut production.
According to the association, cashew is a major agricultural produce and efforts have been made to boost farmers’ productivity and improve cashew production practices.
CBN’s impact
In one of the fora in Abuja, the central bank revealed that it would massively support farmers to boost the production of cashew, tomato, cocoa and palm oil across the country this year.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the move was in line with Federal Government’s quest to attain self-sufficiency and reduce food imports.
Already, the dynamics of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme in the lives of many farmers in the country and the economy in general cannot be quantified.
In fact, the ABP, which is part of the CBN’s development agenda, is not only targeted at creating millions of jobs, but it is also meant to lifting thousands of small holder farmers out of poverty.
Under the programme, the CBN had set aside N40 billion out of the N220 billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development fund given to farmers at single digit interest rate.
Funding challenge
Despite the progress recorded in the country’s cashew sector, funding is still posing the biggest challenge for exporters of the commodity in the country.
Affirming this concern, the NCAN president noted that fund was needed in order to ensure smooth export of cashew in the country, saying that the association was doing everything possible to ensure that cashew exporters do not encounter funding challenges.
According to him, Nigerian realised about $813.05 million (N284.5 billion) in foreign exchange from the export of cashew between 2015 and 2017.
Fasheru explained that the contribution of cashew to national export earnings had been on a steady increase since 2015.
The NCAN president disclosed that the commodity had become a source of income for local farmers, who have benefited immensely from exporting the product.
For instance, he said export earnings rose from $152 million in 2015 to $259 million in 2016 and $402.05 million in 2017.
According to him, Nigeria’s major trading partners are from Vietnam, India and the United States.
He stated that these countries had been the destinations for Nigeria’s cashew export in recent times.
While commending the commitment of the Federal Government to repositioning the economy through cashew production, he stressed that the Nigerian brand of cashew nuts was one of the most preferred globally.
Last line
Based on the forgoing, NCAN members are calling on the Federal Government to address some of the problems affecting the production and export of cashew in the country in order to guarantee steady production and revenue generation for the economy.
By Taiwo Hassan
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