African cashew-producing countries are seeking to retain more value from the crop through local processing, stronger regulation and greater coordination. At a recent conference in Accra, Ghana’s Minister of Food and Agriculture said that Africa produces around 58% of the world’s raw cashew nuts but processes only about 20% of the crop, according to the Ghana News Agency. The report notes that Ghana is positioning cashew as a strategic crop for agricultural transformation and rural employment. Priorities highlighted by the government include productivity, access to quality planting material, post-harvest handling, climate resilience, quality assurance, stronger market linkages and expansion of domestic processing.
A separate roundtable held recently in Accra brought together government, finance and private-sector stakeholders to discuss investment and value addition. The Ghana Free Zones Authority noted that enterprises operating under its scheme must export at least 70% of their processed output.
