African Cashew Alliance

By Leah Quin

Slicing into a cashew cake, more than 100 cashew stakeholders from 17 countries celebrated the first birthday of the African Cashew Alliance at its annual meeting in Mozambique March 22-24. The conference brought together raw nut traders, processors, researchers, development and governmental institutions from Africa and beyond to discuss the year's progress and ways forward for the continent’s blooming cashew industry.

Speakers discussed global developments in the cashew sector, best practices in production, quality and certifications, latest technologies and investment opportunities, while ACA country representatives presented assessments of the cashew industry in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania.

 Highlights included:

• A letter of endorsement from Mozambique's former president, Joaquim Alberto Chissano, who agreed to serve as an ACA ambassador.
• A commitment from GTZ, the German development agency, to provide matching funds for African cashew processors seeking to upgrade their business through certification, training, new staff or other non-infrastructure improvements.
• News from Côte d’Ivoire, which has doubled cashew production to 200 MT in the past five years – a growth rate similar to Vietnam’s, one of the world’s largest cashew producers. However, Vietnam’s yield per acre is four to eight times higher than Côte d’Ivoire’s.
• Proposed methods to boost crop yield from Clive Topper, a researcher from the UK, and Hari Nair of Western India Cashews. Nair also pledged to connect Africans with a cashew research institution funded by India’s government, which studies crop quality and yield. The same institution provided assistance to Vietnam, contributing to that country’s surge in cashew production and processing.
• Demonstration of state-of-the-art mechanized processing equipment recently purchased by a cashew factory. The machines can crack and sort 40-50 kg of cashew an hour, the same quantity a human does in a day. But the kernel breakage rate is higher with machine processing. TechnoServe Mozambique will monitor processing as the machines are brought online.
• Expressions of interest from international buyers and potential investors to do business with African processors.

"After reaching agreement on quality expectations and payment terms, I can envision beginning to import cashews from Africa," said participant Bob Desrochers of Canada-based Totally Nuts & more, Inc., after meeting a processor from Côte d’Ivoire.

The meeting capped an exciting year for the ACA, founded in 2005 to promote the African cashew sector from production to consumption. By connecting members along the complete value chain – producers, processors, traders and international buyers – the Alliance seeks to boost yield, enhance processing and increase exports of raw and processed cashews.  

During the past year, the ACA organized a government delegation visit from Benin to Mozambique and Tanzania, both leaders in African cashew processing. It promoted African cashew processors at a conference of the Peanut and Tree Nut Processors Association in the U.S., the first time Africa had been represented at the largely American industry event. Since then, the ACA has been Going Organic by Diana Caellar - French invited to contribute to the update of global cashew standards.

The ACA also worked to boost pan-African cooperation between cashew stakeholders, holding country-level meetings in Benin, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, with events planned this year in Ghana and Nigeria. It is processing data from a regional market study to test the potential for local consumption in several West African countries. And it connected buyers with suppliers, both regional and overseas, resulting in sales and planned increases in production capacity.

© USAID West Africa Trade Hub

 Cashew Production Practices by Clive Topper 10.13 Mb

 Country Presentation Burkina Faso by Mme Kone 1.28 Mb

 Country Presentation Ghana 6.23 Mb

 Country Presentation Ivory Coast by Djan Nakan Vincent 160.53 Kb

 Country Presentation Ivory Coast by Mme Toure 200.33 Kb

 Country Presentation Kenya 37.83 Kb

 Country Presentation Mozambique by INCAJU 1.15 Mb

 Country Presentation Nigeria by Mr. Tunde 38.93 Kb

 Country Presentation Senegal by Mohamadou Lamine Sene 31.23 Kb

 Country Presentation Tanzania by Alex Mkindi 46.75 Kb

 Going Organic by Diana Caellar - English 667.37 Kb

 Going Organic by Diana Caellar - French 672.43 Kb

 Going Organic by Diana Callear - Portuguese 670.65 Kb

 GTZ-PPP Program by Rita Weidinger - English 1.76 Mb

 GTZ-PPP Program by Rita Weidinger - French 1.76 Mb

 GTZ-Project Proposal Form - English 20.52 Kb

 GTZ-Project Proposal Form - French 20.91 Kb

 Impact On The Global Trends - by Hari Nair - English 313.38 Kb

 Impact On The Global Trends - by Hari Nair - French 521.50 Kb

 Impact On The Global Trends - by Hari Nair - Portuguese 518.63 Kb

 FairMatch Support by Herman uit de Bosch 474.04 Kb

 Message of H.E. President Joaquim Chissano 852.37 Kb

 Competitiveness of the Cashew Industry by Jake Walter - English 1.15 Mb

 Competitiveness of the Cashew Industry by Jake Walter - Portuguese 1.15 Mb

We will soon upload more photos, reports etc. on the website.