Nigeria is set to host the 16th edition of African Cashew Alliance Conference, The President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr Joseph Ajanaku has said.
The annual conference with the theme “Strengthening Sustainable Kernel And By-Products Marketing In The African Cashew Industry” holding between Sept 12-15, 2022 in Abuja is expected to attract both local and foreign investors.
At a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, Ajanaku said the event will be the biggest cashew summit in Africa as it will be a convergence of delegates and major stakeholders, and will attract business opportunities that will help stimulate and influence policies in the sector.
Speaking further, he said; “Although government is doing much to support cashew production in Nigeria, there is still much to be done. We have the potential to produce more than what we are producing today.
He revealed that Nigeria currently produces about 350,000 metric tonnes of cashew annually with the target of growing it to 1million tonnes within the period of 4-5years.
Also speaking, Managing Director, African Cashew Alliance (ACA) Mr Ernest Mintah, said the African Cashew Alliance has been in existence since 2006 in different countries where cashew is produced, and that currently there is about 14 countries.
“Every year we hold cashew conference through which we are able to bring learning and knowledge into the different countries by bringing government and private sector to exchange and learn more about the sector. We have had 15 editions already in different countries in Africa. We are happy to have it here in Nigeria for the first time.
“We see that processing is growing in Nigeria. There is very little processing in Africa, actually about 10years ago only about 5percent produced in Africa was being processed, today we are around 10percent and it is still too little, and what that means is that we are exporting a lot of jobs to Asia, particularly to India and Vietnam where the crop is being sent.
“So we want to sensitise the sector here, attract more investment, so that more of the cashew that is being produced in this country will remain here, be processed here and a lot of jobs will be created for people here.
Mintah further said for every thousand metric tonnes exported, Nigeria was losing about 300 jobs of processed cashew depending on the technology used, which can create about 250-300 jobs.
“The crop and production are here, during the conference, we won’t only be listening to experts speak, we will also do field visits to the various factories here, and people will know how they are set up and opportunities to invest in.”
He urged the Nigerian government to support investment in the sector and increase the processing of cashew in the country.
