Fear of losing N1.18 trillion ($840 million) or 7.95 per cent from global cashew export market this year has gripped Nigerian farmers and exporters, following government moves to place a ban on its export.
Findings revealed that cashew export market in Nigeria had surged to 600,000 metric tonnes per annum as global price for raw cashew hit $1,400 per metric tonne in January 2026.
According to Mordor Intelligence, a global research platform, cashew market is expected to grow from $9.9 billion in 2025 to $10.57 billion in 2026 at 6.74 per cent CAGR. Worried by the trend in the global market, the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) has opposed the proposed Federal Government ban on exporting raw cashew nuts.
The association noted that the country was not ready for such a restriction without infrastructure. The NCAN President Ademola Adesokan explained at the association’s 2026 cashew season flag-off, stakeholders meeting, and Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Lagos that banning raw exports without adequate infrastructure and support would expose farmers to exploitation, distort farmgate prices, and harm the industry, adding that foreign interference at farm gates was a major issue disrupting the sector.
Adesokan said: “We are going back to Abuja to let the Federal Government know what the issues are and work with immigration, customs, and law enforcement agencies to protect our farm gates.”
The endorsement of the Adesokan-led executive was led by National Secretary, Olarotimi Ayeka, who called on delegates, comprising cashew farmers, processors, exporters, and other value-chain stakeholders—to voice their agreement in dissolving the former leadership structure.
Representing the Federal Government, Deputy Director in the Industrial Development Department (IDD) of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment, Mrs. Olumuyiwa Ajayi-Ade, reiterated the administration’s push to transform the cashew sector from raw commodity exports into a value-adding, competitive, and industrialized ecosystem that delivers shared prosperity.
She urged stakeholders to ensure at least 30 per cent value addition on cashew products before export, emphasising the sector’s potential to create thousands of jobs, stimulate rural industrialization, earn foreign exchange, and deepen economic diversification.
She explained: “Despite our natural endowment and growing global demand, Nigeria continues to export her cashew in raw form, leaving value, jobs, and income on the table for other nations to grapple. “The reality underscores an urgent truth that business as usual is no longer an option.
It is in response to this dilemma and the need to diversify the economy that the present administration of President Bola Tinubu is pushing for at least 30 per cent value addition on cashew before export. “This is where the capacity to create jobs for our youths lies.
Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment is very interested in the development in the Nigeria Cashew Policy Roadmap.
“The roadmap represents a deliberate shift from fragmented interventions to a coordinated, long-term, and result-oriented framework for developing the cashew value chain from farm to factory and from the domestic market to global competitiveness, with a strong emphasis on value addition and industrial growth.”
Also, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Olusegun Adebayo, outlined support plans under the National Cashew Agro-industrial Processing (NCAP) initiative, saying that NALDA had applied for 18,000 hectares in Kwara State for backward integration, to be allocated to processors with verified facilities.
This aims, according to him, is to replace old cashew trees with improved seedlings on existing estates in Ogun and Kwara states, boosting production. Adebayo stressed: “It is expensive to set up a facility and it is also very expensive to stock cashew for the processing cycle of the year.
So it is wise that some of them also support smallholder farmers by producing their own cashew. “The old NALDA plantations in Ogun and Kwara states will undergo tree replacement drive for the existing farmers on those farm estates.
We are replacing the existing cashew trees with high-improved seedlings to increase production. “Our goal is to create largescale farmers, and not smallholder farmers. Our model is to move farmers from small hectare blocks to a minimum of 5 hectare blocks.”
Link:https://newtelegraphng.com/export-planned-cashew-nut-ban-threatens-inves...
