Cashew in its employment and commercial value to the
nation has been under utilised as being reported by, SAM EGWU in the piece, a gold mine not fully tapped, looks at the possible ways to put cashew
into proper value chain Cashew nut harvest season has come again and some
cashew farmers in Kogi State said they are happy with the rate at which cashew
nut is selling at the international market, as their lives had become better
since more emphasis has been put on the value of the nut. Agriculture has been one
of the main sources of income the nation has relied on before the sudden advent
of oil in the late 80s. For all intent and purpose, diversification of the
economy is the only solution to the clamouring for monoculture which has time
limit.
Before the advent of oil, Nigeria depended on
agriculture separated to cotton, groundnut, hide and skin, palm oil, cocoa for
the sustenance of the people, so falling back on agriculture is a welcome
development The record achievement of cashew in moving some farmers from
economic quagmire to to the limelight, has made several people to put more
emphasis in making sure the cashew is properly addressed for more people to
benefit. A cashew farmer, Mr Adah Ochai
said he was able to commence building of his family house with the sales he
recorded from the 2016 cashew season.
Adah who had been basking in the euphoria of cashew
business for more than four years, stated this in Lokoja while speaking with
our reporter stressing he never made profit from selling cashew nut like what
he made last year. However, he stated, the government should look inward to
establish a cashew processing machines in the state to engage some few idle
hands. Adah further stated “Last year 2016 cashew season was really good for me
and many others in my area that has informed the decision to start early
preparation this year, stressing, “cashew farmers from Igalamela/Odolu local
government made it really good last year”. James Olowo stated that most of
those boys who have constituted nusiance to the city have virtually relocated
to the communities where cashew has been in vogue.
Adah who urged the state government to enforce the
law banning bush burning to avoid degradation of the soil stated that some
unscrupulous elements in the society take delight in causing untold hardship
especially now that all attention has shifted to farming. Mr Adah however
called on Federal and State government to synergies effort to ensure that
cashew processing machines are established in Kogi State. Available statistics
have shown that Nigeria is to attain production of 500,000 cashew nuts in the
next four years through mechanized farming and standardization of product plan
being put in place by government and private investors.
A seasoned expert in the business of cashew over the
years, Mr Stephen Ahiaba, the Managing Director, St. Ahiaba Global Resources
disclosed this at a meeting of Kogi Agricultural Vision Group (AVG) and the
Agricultural Innovative Group (AIG)organised by Synergos Nigeria in Lokoja.
Ahiaba said the country through smallholder farmers was presently producing
60,000 metric tons annually adding that the level was going to change with the
planned mechanisation and market information available to the farmers
presently. “With the market information and negotiation done between 2014 and
2016, we need to upscale production now that agriculture is business through
mechanisation plan that will increase production of cashew nuts to 500,000
metric tons in the next four years”. He said that his company in partnership
with Technoserve, an international NGO on cashew value chain and Kogi State
Government, had introduced Cashew Enhancement Project to build the capacity of
cashew farmers. The project, according to him, aims to impact on the inputs,
including land development, production, post-harvest handling, standardization,
processing and marketing to help rural farmers attain the best agronomical
practices. The project had so far impacted on the cashew value chain with the
current cashew price adding, “cashew nuts price has grown from average of
N7,000 per bag in 2014 to N50,000 in 2017.”
He said that the project also aimed at producing for
export as the commodity was now a major source of foreign exchange in many
countries with high quality and optimal production. According to the director,
India is doing over 700,000 metric tons annually
while Brazil with 500,000 metric tons has developed what is called Brazilian
Zobo, a variety higher than what we have here. “Mozambique is doing above
400,000 metric tons while Ghana is slightly above 300,000. So, Nigeria has to
upscale production. We have the resources to do so and we are going to do so”,
he said.
Director-General, Kogi Bureau of Public
Private Partnership (BPPP) said the state government
would partner private initiatives in its effort to make agriculture business
for the enhanced welfare of farmers. The major snag envisaged in attaining high
yielding interest of cashew to the people, and low income generation for the
country is the inability to harmonise the potentials accruable from the cashew.
Mr Victor Adejoh, Synergos Nigeria, Team Lead in the
state said Syngergos under the aegis of State Partnership for Agriculture (SPA)
with the AVG and the (AIG) was looking forward to more so of such
collaborations for enhance agricultural production in the country.
Mr Stephen Ahiaba, chairman, Kogi chapter of Cashew
Producers Association of Nigeria said that about 500,000 metric tons of cashew
apples/fruits worth N50 billion rot away annually in Kogi. Ahiaba who made the
startling revelation in an interview with the LEADERSHIP in Lokoja attributed
the waste to non-availability of the technology to process the juice from the
cashew fruits to derive its health value.
“About 500,000 metric tons of cashew apples rot away
on the farms in Kogi State due to lack of technology. There are ample
commercial value attached to the cashew apple awaiting to be tapped. The
Managing Director said the company imported the technology for cashew juice
processing into Nigeria for the first time”, until an indigenous agro-products
processing outfit, ST Ahiaba Global Resources Limited decided to delve into the
business he said. He hinted that the processing factory, cited in Egume, Dekina
Local Government of the state, was in partnership with an international
agro-based NGO, Techno-Serve, based in Washington DC to process the juice for
consumption.
The juice, branded “Relish Natural Juice”, according
to him, is 100 per cent cashew juice without water and additives adding, “What
we do is purification and standard packaging and it has two-year shelf-life.”
Ahiaba revealed that the company had approached the National Agency for Food
and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for certification, saying, “The
Agency described the juice as a wonderful product after laboratory analysis.”
The self styled farmer said that the organization was into cashew business to
improve the value chain adding that the residue from processed apples could be
converted to animal feeds.
He further explained that in collaboration with the
state government, his industry had embarked on cashew inspection and grading
for global standardization, recalling that “in 2014, a bag of cashew nuts cost
N7,000 but in 2017, it costs N50,000.” The Managing Director urged the State
Government to accord the cashew industry utmost attention saying, “Kogi stands
to benefit a lot if we create necessary attention for the cashew industry.”
Part of the vision, he asserted, was to enable
“rural farmers borrow ideas from our physical, good agronomic practices because
we have introduced cashew enhancement project to develop cashew value chain.”
Director-General, Kogi Bureau of Public Private
Partnership (BPPP) , Mr Robert Achanya told our reporter in Lokoja that the
state had concluded plans to put in place, a strategic data management system
to facilitate its agricultural transformation agenda.
He said that for more than 25 years of its
inexistence, Kogi could not boast of reliable data pool to plan its development
adding that there was no way a state could develop without data-based planning.
‘The BPPP strategy in the agriculture sector is to find how we can support or
contribute to government wanting to make agriculture a business and not just
farming for farming sake.
Source: https://leadership.ng/news/578862/cashew-nuts-the-untapped-goldmine
