The failure of Nigeria to process its cashew nuts before export is responsible for the loss of $1.4 billion which the country could have earned if cashew nuts were processed.
Nigeria exported a total of 160,000 metric tons valued at $300 million in 2016, according to data obtained from the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN).
About 90 percent of the total exports for 2016 were exported raw according to Emmanuel Ijewere, vice president, Nigeria Agribusiness Group and chief executive officer, Best Foods Limited. This means that $270 million (which is 90 percent of $300 million) was exported unprocessed in 2016.
According to Ijewere, for every amount earned in export of raw cashew in 2016, Nigeria would have made five times the value of what was made. Five times the value of $270 million amounts to $1.4 billion.
Besides cocoa, cashew is another major cash crop in Nigeria with huge export potential. Cashew is a tasty snack and oil also serves as an industrial raw material in firms producing chemicals, paints, varnishes, insecticides and fungicides, electrical conductors, and also for the food and beverage industry and costmetics.
“The cashew industry is a massive industry that is waiting to be tapped. Processing is where the money really is but we process very little for export,” Anga Sotonye, chief executive officer, Universal Quest Limited, told BusinessDay in a telephone response to questions.
“A ton of processed cashew, as we speak, is sold for $12,000 while a ton of raw cashew is $1,200. You can see the difference is massive,” said Sotonye, who is also an executive member of the National Cashew Association.
He called on the government to support the cashew sub-sector so that a lot of investments can be made in processing of cashew nuts. “With processing of cashew nuts the government will create massive jobs for the unemployed youths and generate a lot of revenue,” he added.
Sotonye urged the government to emulate what Ivory Coast is doing in terms of giving incentives to the cashew industry. Ivory Coast gives incentives to encourage processing and today, the sector has grown significantly, he said.
Nigeria is rated as the fourth largest producer of cashew nuts in Africa and sixth in the world, with a 160,000 metric per annum and is expected to reach 500,000 metric tons by 2020.
The bulk of Nigeria’s cashew nuts and kernels are exported to Europe, India and the United States.
Apart from helping to maintain a healthy heart and bones, cashew also helps in weight loss. The most important product of the cashew tree is the nut, which is used as confectionery, followed by the Cashew Shell Nut Liquid (CNSL), which is of great industrial importance, is obtained from the seed pericarp by steam distillation or extraction with solvents.
A group of academic researchers led by Mattew Edoga, of the chemical engineering dept, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, described cashew nut as a lost crop in the content of agricultural produce of Nigeria, despite its industrial and export potentials.
The cashew crop can be grown in the entire South-West, South-South and South-East region, with Enugu, Oyo, Anambra, Osun and Kogi having the largest production areas.
“Cashew currently sells for N450,000 per metric ton in Nigeria. It was sold between N370, 000 and N390, 000 per metric ton five months ago,” said Zacheaus Egbewusi, chief executive officer, Agri Commodity Inspection Limited.
Nigeria’s cashew is usually harvested between February and June, though farmers stock the crop and export it all year round.
Currently, one of the major challenges for cashew farmers and exporters is the unavailability of jute bags for the export of the commodity, as no company is manufacturing them in the country.
The cashew industry received an allocation of N1.3 billion earmarked for value chain promotion and development in the agricultural proposed 2017 budgetary breakdown.
Josephine Okojie & Caleb Ojewale
