Africa Cashew Alliance (ACA) is calling on government to support the cashew industry by creating a suitable environment for the growth of the sector.
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Africa Cashew Alliance push for government support
President of ACA, Edgar Maokola-Majogo, lamented about the closure of 10 out of 14 cashew processing plants, blaming it on problems associated with procurements.
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“We can imagine the tremendous loss to promoters of the factories, the loss of employment for the workers - mainly women - and government in terms of tax, foreign exchange and other revenues,” he said.
“To all the direct and indirect stakeholders, we would like to point out that without government support and the enabling policies, the objective of local value addition through processing cannot be realised."
Maokola-Majogo said some member-countries of ACA have rolled out reforms in the cashew sector.
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“Some of the member-countries of ACA such as Cote d’Ivoire, Benin, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau, have recently reformed their cashew sectors to provide an enabling environment and support for all sectors in the cashew value chain,” he said.
Meanwhile, the trade and industry ministry has announced measures to improve cashew production.
A statement signed by the sector minister, Dr.Ekow Spio-Garbrah said government will support the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO) to enable them to purchase the raw cashew nuts (RCN) and establish a “Just-in-Time” inventory to ensure that the indigenous processors have an all-year-round supply of RCN.
The statement also said government will initiate discussions concerning the establishment of a credit scheme for cashew farmers.
Government will examine the merits of the setting up of the Ghana Cashew Management
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Board to license, supervise and monitor all activities in the cashew value chain, the statement said.
In addition, the statement said government will work with stakeholders to propose and implement a 10-year cashew development plan for Ghana.
This would seek to ensure the development and expansion of the cashew industry and also increase the country’s production to at least 200,000MT by the year 2025, according to the statement.
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