Association calls for promotion of cashew business

The National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) has called for the promotion of cashew business in the country in order to unlock financing for the sector to thrive.
The National Publicity Secretary of NCAN and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Universal Quest Nigeria, Mr. Sotonye Anga, said that Nigeria would generate a turnover of over ‎N1trillion (about $6.25bn) in the next 10 years, noting however that necessary support and encouragement from regulators would make the target achievable.

Anga, who spoke on behalf of the group, noted that the cashew industry requires a financing to the tune of N50 billion (about $3312m) to boost production, processing and marketing.

He said there was a need for value addition in the nation’s cashew industry to create more jobs for unemployed young people, diversify the economy and earn foreign exchange.

Anga, who spoke at the export platform business luncheon tagged: “Multibillion N‎aira Cashew industry”, stressed that exporting raw cashew, also exports job opportunities, stressing the need for the nation to reverse this trend.

“Let us not forget that Africa is the centre of the cashew world, producing over 40 percent of 2.6 million tonnes of the world’s cashew nuts with Nigeria standing as one of the largest cashew producers in the continent alongside Ivory Coast, Guinea Bissau, Tanzania, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique and recently Mali,” he said.
‎
”The time to add value to our cashew and thereby create more jobs for our unemployed young people, reduce unemployment, diversify our economy, reduce the pressure on our naira, stimulate economic growth‎ and get a bigger share of the cashew dollar is now,” he added.

According to him, $1.8 billion per annum in naira is an equivalent of N351 billion from just cashew alone, noting that it is as a matter of urgency for Nigeria to have a paradigm shift to look away from petrol dollar to cashew dollar.