Farmers Oppose National Assembly’s Bill To Ban Cashew Nut Export

Cashew farmers in Nigeria have pleaded with the federal government not to go ahead with the planned ban on the export of cashew nuts.

They feared that the decision would have adverse effects on the non-oil sector of the nation’s economy.

The farmers who spoke as a concerned group of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) said the call was a follow-up to a meeting they recently held in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.

According to them, the NCAN resolution was a result of a bill before the National Assembly seeking approval for the federal government to ban the export of cashew nuts.

“This plan, if implemented, will truncate the chances of Nigeria to grow its economy on other resources other than crude oil,” they said.

The leaders of the farmers from Oyo and Kwara States; Salami Tunde and Omotosho Theophilus, spoke with journalists in Ilorin, the capital of Kwara State.

They said, “Members at the meeting were of a common stand that the bill before the National Assembly seeking to ban cashew nut exportation would only be anti-people, that would also deal another devastating blow to the nation’s non-oil export sectors.”

Tunde said instead of banning exportation of cashew nuts, the government should establish five producing factories where raw cashew nuts could be processed, pointing out that large cashew farms are found in places like Ogbomoso, Oke Ogun areas of Oyo State, Kogi State, Kwara State and others across the country where raw materials could easily be sourced to run the factories.

They expressed fears that some youths who had found job opportunities in the cashew nut export industry would lose out if the bill were to pass through.