Omo Naija, make we gist about our cashew industry wey don show correct potential.
As e be, Nigeria don dey cash out over $400 million from cashew exports alone, and wetin dey make am sweet be say dem say the sector fit still provide more than this. Sheriff Balogun, wey be President of Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria, yarn this during wetin dem call the 4th Nigeria Cashew Day for Abuja.
Balogun talk say based on wetin dem don gather for statistics, non-oil export don dey climb from about $5 billion to $6.1 billion for this year, with cashew dey carry plenty load for that waka. Him say, “Cashew don provide over $400 million, with over 300,000 tonnes exported. This one show say our cashew sector dey seriously dey chop. But o, we still get plenty ground to cover.”
Him no go lie, as him highlight say Nigeria dey operate below wetin e suppose reach, especially for processing and value addition. “We fit do better. In no distant time, with correct planning, we fit push our production to about $1 million. Right now, we dey process only about 20-30% of wetin we dey produce.” Balogun talk say if we sabi add value to wetin we get, e go boost our earnings and create serious jobs too.
“We dey encourage value addition. If we fit add value, we go fit earn more than five times wetin we dey earn for now and we go create more jobs for our pipo. We dey look for way to sharp increase local consumption to strengthen our market,” he continue.
Another big man for the industry, Ibrahim Sanfo, wey be President of African Cashew Alliance, talk say Africa dey produce more cashew but we dey consume small. “For Africa, we be the top producers but we dey consume less than 1%. We need to process our own product well. Government support dey crucial if we wan change this matter,” Sanfo drop the bomb.
Joseph Ajanaku, wey be President of National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), no carry last. Him talk say Nigeria dey serious to reclaim her place as number one for cashew production. “We want to grow our production capacity make we take number one position wey we don dey lose recently.” Ajanaku stress say Nigeria get all the resources wey e need to dominate the global cashew market. “We get the land, the climate, and the population to make am happen,” him yarn.
But wahala no fit finish if we no tackle the matter of poor data and weak export monitoring. Ajanaku raise alarm say some outsiders dey bypass our export processes, which dey make am difficult for us to gather correct production figures. “This government don set up NCAN Farmers’ Mapper to track all farms and monitor di production levels.”
Him also call on Federal Government make dem put more focus on agro-processing through affordable loans. “We dey discuss special agro-processing loans. Banking institutions fit provide loan for less than 5%, even 3%, to support the processing sector.”
No be small tin, as cashew don become one of our most important non-oil agricultural exports. Reports show say cashew export don increase by more than 80% year-on-year for early 2025, e dey show say global demand dey high. Nigeria non-oil export sector, wey include other commodities like cocoa and sesame, also dey perform well this year.”
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