[Nigeria] Displaced women turn to cashew in Abuja, and are ‘making it’

June 05, 2019

“This business brings lots of profit for me,” Hauwa Mohammed said.

Images by PTN

The 30-year-old mother of three lives in Damagaza, one of the unofficial camps in Abuja for persons displaced by the Boko Haram crisis. She has been trading in cashew nuts for over three years.

“I used the profit that I made in the business last year to roof the house I am building.”

Mrs Mohammed said the business had also enabled her to cater for her children. Her husband works as a security guard, does not earn much from the job and is not always at home.

According to Mrs Mohammed, the Gbagyi people planted cashew on their ancestral land in the Federal Capital Territory to protect it from being taken away from them by a “predatory clan” made up of the Nigerian government, land grabbers and estate developers.

Some women in the IDP camps soon found gold rummaging the plantation. They pick the cashew nuts and sell to itinerant commodity buyers.

Processing Cashew

The cashew seed is more popular than the cashew apple itself. It is widely consumed as a snack in Nigeria.

The nuts can also be pressed to release edible cooking oil, which is considered healthier than most other types of cooking oil.

But despite being considered healthy, cashew oil is not in common use because of its cost. The high cost is due to the long process of extraction of the oil.

Images by PTN

After being removed from the bottom of the fruit, the nuts are roasted or dried in an oven for easy removal from the shell. In Nigeria, all these are mostly done by hand.

To extract cashew oil, the shells and skins are first removed. The oil in the cashew shells is very toxic and can damage the human skin. Workers cover their hands with ashes to absorb this oil while working on the shells.

The shells are then usually cracked with a mallet, and the cashew nuts removed. Some mechanical devices may also be used to cut the shell off the nut.

The Business

But the trade around cashew in Nigeria is not really about the cashew nut or the cooking oil extracted from it. The toxic liquid from the cashew nut shell, also known as the Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL), is the main target of the business.

The cashew nut shell yields several by-products used in a variety of products. They include friction linings, paints, laminating resins, rubber compounding resins, cashew cement, polyurethane based polymers, surfactants, epoxy resins, foundry chemicals, lubricants, brake fluid additive, waterproofing, paints, arms production and intermediates for the chemical industry.

The demand for the reddish-brown viscous liquid is quite huge in Nigeria as it is considered a better and cheaper material for unsaturated phenols and because of its multiple uses.

Women in the Business

Amina Mohammed, the wife of the chairman of the Danmagaza IDP camp is one of the major traders in cashew nuts in the camp.

The 43-year-old mother of 10 recalled wistfully the boom she said the trade enjoyed last year. She was able to buy a grinding machine and start processing corns from her profits. She said she also took over from her husband the payment of the school fees of one of their children.

Amina, who is also pregnant, said she bought her grinding machine for N40,000 last year and makes about N2,000 daily from it, aside from her regular canteen customers who pay weekly.

Images by PTN

She said the cashew business started fully in the Danmagaza camp two years ago when some people came from Lagos to buy the nuts.

“Plenty people from Lagos came to buy from us. Last year, we sold one module for N700,” she said.

But the bubble has since ruptured. This year, Amina said a module has been selling for only N100.

“I was buying a bag for N20,000 but now I buy for N12,000 and sell for about N15,000. Last year, I sold a bag for as high as N70,000,” she said.

Hanatu Sadiq, 26, is a squatter in an unofficial IDP camp in Malaysia Garden, located in Kabusa area of Abuja.

The widowed mother of three said she was easily attracted to the business because “it is lucrative and doesn’t involve much stress.

“The market really brought profit for me last year. I started my provision business from the gains.”

The Present Challenge

Amina and Hauwa said they are given money in advance by the dealers who buy from them. But they said there had been no patronage by the dealers so far this year.

They believe foreigners coming to buy the nuts have been scared to stay away by the political atmosphere of Nigeria because of the elections.

Amina’s husband, Umar Mohammed, lost one of his legs during an attack by Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State. He has also felt the impact of the lull in business.

“My prayer is for those foreigners to come because Nigeria doesn’t have a processing factory for cashew oil unlike groundnut oil, soya oil and some other oil produced in Nigeria,” Mr Mohammed told PREMIUM TIMES.

But the experience is not peculiar to the women cashew traders in Abuja. Across the cashew belt in Nigeria, farmers and traders have been severely hit by the fall in the price of the commodity.

The fall, however, is not unusual as it reflects the situation at the international commodity market. For commodities such as cashew nuts, cocoa, cotton and palm kernel, fluctuation is in the nature of the business.

By Ayodeji Adegboyega

Source: Premium Times Nigeria

[Zambia]: Cashew gets gender touch

June 05, 2019

SOME say cashew is a women’s crop.

However, in the various stages of the cashew value chain, most women are involved only in the lower scales.

ZAMBIA Agriculture Research Institute Simulumbe Research Station researcher Inyambo Mukela showing Minister of Gender Elizabeth Phiri (left) cashew nuts on an improved breed when she visited the centre on a familiarisation tour. PICTURE: ELIZABETH CHATUVELA

That is something the US$55.4 million Cashew Infrastructure Development Project (CIDP) in Western Province, which is being implemented by Government with support from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), is aiming to change.

Overall, the project targets to reach 60,000 farmers of which 30, 000 will be women. So far, the project has reached 4,752 farmers, representing 1,273 women and 2,327 men. Some work to do there.

CIDP gender specialist Ngula Ikafa Mubonda says the project has set up activities that will see streamlining of the project activities to consider gender in all aspects in order to achieve the 50 percent target of women involved in production and 90 percent in mechanical processing in line with the targets of the project.

Ms Mubonda says the project will conduct gender sensitisation activities in communities with the involvement of the Barotse Royal Establishment (BRE) and gender mainstreaming in cashew curriculum development as well as in the feasibility study for a large-scale processing plant.

Currently, there is only one female processor of cashew nuts in Western Province – Brenda Mwanamwalye Kashumba. 

ELIZABETH CHATUVELA, Mongu

Source: Daily Mail Zambia

[India] Cashew growers seek to set up national-level body

June 03, 2019

It will help farmers liaise with Govt.

Images by The Hindu Business Line

Cashew growers in the country are likely to get a national-level association to take care of their interests. A group of cashew growers, experts and representatives from the cooperative sector held a meeting at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, Karnataka, recently, stressing on the need to set up an ‘all-India cashew growers’ association’.

Mohana GS, a Senior Scientist at the Puttur-based Directorate of Cashew Research (DCR), told BusinessLine that the proposed association would act as a voice of farmers at the State and national levels. However, he made it clear that the directorate is only facilitating such a move.

Though the cashew crop is gaining the attention of farmers across the country, there is no association of growers at national-level. The proposed association will act as a voice of farmers at national-level and will also be a bridge between growers in different states. It will also help liaise between growers and various line departments related to cashew, he said.

The association will help impart knowledge to farmers on various technological advances in the sector. It also wants to encourage promotion of farmer producers’ organisations (FPOs) .

Asked how the proposed association is planning to bring farmers from different parts of the country under its network, he said DCR has 14 All-India Coordinated Research Project on Cashew centres across the country. These centres are connected with several growers in their respective areas of operations. The association will get the help of these centres in creating awareness about the need for such an association at the national level, he said.

Growers in some parts of the country have their own associations at the local and regional levels. They will be encouraged to become a part of the national body of growers, he said.

Reporters

Source: The Hindu Business Line

[India] Karnataka cashew importers allege over-billing by Customs

June 03, 2019

The Karnataka Cashew Manufacturers’ Association (KCMA) has said that its members are facing problems in getting imported raw cashew nuts (RCN) cleared by the Customs department in Mangaluru.

Images by The Hindu Business Line

In a representation to the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, KCMA said the Customs officials have arbitrarily fixed the floor price for import of RCN (HS Code 08013100). The price fixed by the authorities is almost 30 per cent higher than the market price.

‘Value increased’

Subraya Pai, KCMA president, said in the representation that though the association had made several representations to the authorities in Mangaluru Customs to value RCN on the basis of present market prices, the same has not been considered by the them. The bill of entries filed by the importers are reassessed, and value is increased mechanically. It is being done for almost 100 per cent of the bill of entry filed by the importers.

“The arbitrary actions by the Custom authorities have resulted in grave injustice to the industry as to the export competitiveness of the industry is totally eroded as exporters are not being able to effectively utilise the Advance Authorisation Scheme,” Pai said in the representation.

Duty-free imports

The Advance Authorisation Scheme allows duty-free imports of raw material for exports with a value addition of 15 per cent. “Since the Customs authorities are arbitrarily increasing the import value by 30 per cent, the exports are now required to attain a value addition of 45 per cent, which is practically impossible,” the representation said.

Exporters are forced to use duty-paid material for exports. As a result of this, they have lost the export competitiveness totally.

The importers are forced to pay additional import duty and IGST over and above what is legally due, the representation said. With almost 30 per cent value increase, IGST that is paid can never be recovered as the total value addition in the industry in less than 15 per cent. So there is perpetual carry over of input IGST.

‘No incentive to undervalue’

Most imports of RCNs take place from the least developed countries with nil import duty. The importers are required to pay only IGST, which is refundable as input tax under GST system. Hence, there is absolutely no incentive to undervalue the imports, the representation said.

Stating that the industry is sailing through a crisis situation due to sudden fall in prices, Pai said many units in Kerala have already closed down, and industries in other places are on the verge of being closed.

Reporters

Source: The Hindu Business Line

[World] CMA CGM adding Vietnam call during cashew nut season

Apr 26, 2019

The weekly stop in Vung Tau is expected to continue until early August.

Shipping route - images by CMA CGM

CMA CGM is adding a Vietnam call during the cashew nut season.

A weekly call at Vung Tau is being added to the AFEX service connecting West Africa to Asia for the export of cashew nuts from Benin and Ghana. Vung Tau will be inserted into the rotation effective May 11 with the voyage of the Kmarin Azur.

The additional call is planned for the entire season of the cashew nuts, expected to end in Ghana and Benin in late June or the beginning of July. The last call in Vung Tau is scheduled for Aug. 3.

Vung Tau is reached from Tema in 32 days and from Cotonou in 35 days. Ho Chi Minh will be served by barge via Vung Tau with an additional three days.

The rotation eastbound is Lome – Tema – Cotonou – Walvis Bay – Tanjung Pelepas – Vung Tau – Shanghai - Ningbo – Fuqing/Fuzhou – Kaohsiung – Nansha – Singapore – Tanjung Pelepas – Lome.

By Kim Link-Wills 

Source: American Shipper

[Tanzania]: No place in 2020, CCM warns MPs

June 02, 2019

By Haika Kimaro @TheCitizenTz news@tz.nationmedia.com

Mtwara. The ruling CCM yesterday warned its MPs who maintained deep-seated opposition towards key government decisions in dealing with critical national issues like the cashewnut crisis that they will not have a place in the party come 2020. 

The party’s Ideology and Publicity Secretary, Mr Humphrey Polepole said in Mtwara Region that the names of errant CCM leaders and “irresponsible” MPs who have turned out to be part of the problems the party and the government seek to end will

“If you are a CCM MP and you are opposing decisions which we made at great pain, you need to prepare yourself because my colleagues and I, starting with the secretariat, the executive and the central committee, are one thing,” said Polepole. 

He was speaking at a graduation ceremony in Mtwara. His remarks have triggered a huge debate on social media with names of some outspoken CCM MPs mentioned as Polepole’s target. Mtama lawmaker Nape Nnauye and his colleague Hawa Ghasia (Mtwara Rural) are known for being critical of how the government handled the cashew nut issue and have openly said it affected farmers’ welfare in Mtwara. 

Mr Nape has demonstrated visceral and emotional criticism of government’s proposed amendments to the Cashew nut Industry Act, 2009 in June last year, saying it would amount to sabotaging cashew farmers.

He was also critical of the government’s decision to scrap 65 per cent export levy for cashews that belonged to farmers. 

Mr Nape had gone further to warn that actions of the government in dealing with the cashew nut crisis in the southern region was to ‘kill’ CCM in the area. 

“I will oppose the changes to my last drop of blood, and also ensure that the Sh211 billion owed to cashew farmers is refunded in full.” 

In November last year, President Magufuli sacked then agriculture minister Charles Tizena and his Industry, Trade and Investment counterpart, Charles Mwijage over mishandling of the cashew crisis and disbanded the Cashew nut Board of Tanzania. 

Ms Ghasia was also opposed to the changes. She told a parliamentary committee on budget that funds for the development of the cashew nut crop must be channelled to the cashewnut board - through the Ministry of Agriculture - by following a method that would be agreed upon by cashew nut stakeholders and the government.” 

Reached for reaction yesterday, Mr Nnauye and Ms Ghasia declined lengthy comments on the issue. 

“He’s one who said so, I cannot argue with my leader, so I have nothing to talk about,” said Ms Ghasia on phone.

Mr Nape was also not ready to comment unless he heard what the CCM leader said. 

“I cannot respond to your question until I personally hear what he (Polepole),” said Mr Nnauye. 

Yesterday, Mr Polepole was apparently referring to the cashew crisis, which took a new twist in November last year after the government announced it would buy the entire crop (over 200, 000 tonnes) to end a price dispute between farmers and traders. 

“It’s better to put the record clear. We decided to buy the cashew to safeguard the respect and dignity of our farmers. CCM MPs should narrate this story clearly so that people know this is a an economic war, and not that you you become part of the problem, come 2020 you will be axed,” said Polepole. 

Nzega Urban Member of Parliament (CCM) Hussein Bashe, has also known for his open criticism against his party and government decisions. 

He criticised CCM caucuses as he shelved a personal motion for the House to debate rising cases of people being hijacked and some killed by unknown people.  

By Haika Kimaro @TheCitizenTz news@tz.nationmedia.com

Source: The Citizen Tanzania

[Tanzania]: Now Tanzania in Hunt for Investors to Process Cashew Nuts

June 01, 2019

Photo: The Citizen Tanzania

Tanzania is seeking investors in cashew nut processing, with the aim of increasing local consumption and reducing exports.

After the debacle involving a little-known Kenyan company Indo Power Solutions that took the Tanzanian government for a ride in a $180 million deal, Dar es Salaam reckons that local processing will help secure a ready market for the nuts.

The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) has organised a forum next month whose key aim is to attract domestic and international investors in the cashew nut sector, which is witnessing an average growth of 450 per cent annually.

Geoffrey Mwambe, TIC executive director said they are seeking to establish cashew nut processing projects and industrial parks mainly in Lindi and Mtwara regions.

The search for processors comes at a time when the Tanzanian government is still holding a huge stock of cashew nuts estimated at 200,000 tonnes it bought from farmers in November last year after it failed to secure foreign buyers.

The government opted to buy all harvests after private buyers failed to up their prices as demanded by President John Pombe Magufuli.

Are Tanzania's cashewnut brokers back in business?

The government doubled the prices for farmers from $0.64 per kilogramme to $1.2.

A deal with Indo Power early in the year for 100,000 tonnes blew up in smoke after it emerged that the firm was shadowy with no ability to raise $180 million to purchase the nuts.

Tanzania is among the world's largest producers of raw cashew nuts having realised a total production of 313,826 tonnes in the 2017/18 crop year.

Notably, about 90 per cent of the cashew nuts are exported in their raw form owing to the country's low processing capacity.

Tanzania is looking for investors to add value on the nuts and produce various products like cashew cheese or butter, lubricants, waterproofing and paints.

The country also wants investors for new cashew nut plantations to increase productivity, suppliers of machinery/equipment/spare parts and to put up industrial parks and processing zones.

By Njiraini Muchira

Source: All Africa