How neighbouring countries sabotage Nigeria’s cashew export ─ACFAP

Web Editor | ConsumerConnect

Association of Cashew Farmers, Aggregators and Processors of Nigeria (ACFAP) has alleged that neighbouring countries have been sabotaging the country’s cashew export and taking credit for cashew produced in Nigeria.

The Nation reports that the Association while alleging that countries such as Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire’s claim of producing about 750,000metric tonnes of cashew, it explained that cashew from Nigeria is shipped to other countries without clean certificate of inspection.

Engr. Unekwuojo Edime, ACFAP President, at a media briefing in Abuja, FCT, alleged that some neighbouring countries can’t produce as much as they claim, but they get the cashew value more than Nigeria.

According to Engr. Edime, “some people ship our cashew to other countries, standardise it and sell the cashew as being of their own origin instead of Nigeria, thereby taking credit of Nigerian cashew.”

He further disclosed that there are people in the industry with serious funds, wherein rather than helping to grow the sector, they are devaluing the industry for their own gain.

“These people meddle in the affairs of the cashew industry and destroy the market.

“What the cabal does is that they are the ones that determine price for cashew, and the farmer on the other hand, cannot reject it,” he said.

The ACFAP President nonetheless, noted that for the year 2020, TAK Agro is working with them to ensure that all their crops are being standardised and of best quality, such that it cannot be rejected in the international market.

He also appealed for the inclusion of Cashew in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP).

The Association would also want to partner with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), the National Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) towards rehabilitation of existing plantation and expansion of hectare, he stated.

“As an Association, we are promoting Cashew Value Chain development with serious emphasis on value addition, wealth and job creation as a key driver for socio-economic advancement and livelihood support in Nigeria,” Edime said.