Kenya: Ban on Cashew Nuts Still on, Says Ndambuki

The ban on exportation of raw nuts will remain in force till the government sets up a nut governing authority, assistant minister for Agriculture Gideon Ndambuki said yesterday.

Ndambuki said the exports cannot continue if proper systems are not in place. "The government realised that a few people are benefiting from nuts while farmers were not getting anything. The order will be lifted only when proper measures are put and an upright association is formed," he said.

Speaking in Mombasa yesterday Ndambuki said in four months' time a solution will have been found. He asked farmers to be patient as they wait for a long term solution from the government.

However, many farmers are incurring losses as tonnes of cashew and macadamia nuts rot in stores following a ban on raw exports. They are at the mercy of processors who are buying the produce at throw-away prices. The farmers are now urging the government to fast track the process of forming an organisation to help them earn a living.

A farmer Tom Dkazo said the cashew nut market is now being controlled by brokers who are buying the nuts at low prices to sell later to processors once the ban is lifted. "Most nuts that we are harvesting are rotten because we do not have a proper mechanism to prevent them from rotting. Most of us have resolved to selling them at a throw away prices. Most farmers are even logging cashew trees to sell logs at least to earn a living," Dkazo said. The ban on export of raw cashew nuts was effected two years ago.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201202180034.html