10 things Nigeria must do as it overtakes India as world largest producer of cashew nuts

Nigeria has overtaken India and is now the world’s number one producer of cashew nuts:

1. Nigeria (922,000 tonnes)
2. India (772,000 tonnes)
3. Vietnam (590,000 tonnes)
4. Ivory Coast (571,000 tonnes)
5. Benin (226,000 tonnes)
6. Philippines (188,000 tonnes)
7. Guinea-Bissau (175,000 tonnes)
8. Indonesia (136,000 tonnes)
9. Brazil (126,000 tonnes)
10. Burkina Faso (118,000 tonnes)

Now, an anonymous writer penned down 10 things the country must do to build on this. Here is what we must do to avoid this becoming another false dawn:

(1) First of all, we need to guarantee production and lower output costs or we will not be able to compete with the Indians on the international market. We need to woo commercial farmers into the sector and get them to improve yields and increase unit per head output

(2) We must vow never to become an exporter of just raw cashews as happened with crude oil. I would actually pass a law banning raw exports, stating that only finished produce can be exported

(3) Interest-free loans should be given to anyone who wants to open a processing plant. There are a few food semi-processors in Nigeria today. They should be encouraged to cite factories in cashew production areas through long term soft loans. It should be banks offering them and not the government or corruption will take over

(4) Cashews are a key component of chocolate alongside cocoa, milk, coconuts, groundnuts, shea nuts, pistachios, etc. It is time to ask manufacturers like Cadbury, Nestle, Mars, etc to locate a global manufacturing facility in Nigeria. We have all the ingredients they need, so can offer vertically integrated production. Nigeria should be exporting packaged and shelf-ready chocolate bars directly to international retail chains like Sainsbury’s, Safeway, Tesco, Asda, etc

(5) We cannot keep producing cash crops like cashew through smallholders who lack the facilities to ensure they meet aflatoxin and international food standard requirements. We need to encourage these small growers to form cooperatives. Very hard as peasants are used to doing their own thing but they need to be encouraged to get together. Incentives should be offered to facilitate this

(6) Nigeria’s Food Standards Agency should also establish a laboratory in every local government area that is a major producing region. Get farmers to bring their produce in for testing and offer them advice on global trends, food standards and modern production techniques

(7) One big problem many companies face in Nigeria is getting their machinery into the country. Also, whenever they have a breakdown, getting it repaired is a problem. There is only one antidote to this and that is to begin manufacturing equipment locally. Nigeria needs to become a major manufacturer of cashew processing equipment

(8) I am very passionate about getting Ajaokuta up and running whatever it takes because I know that without steel, we will remain an agrarian, oil dependent and import-cursed economy. If we have that factory churning out steel, we can manufacture cashew processing machines, packaging production lines, machine tools, etc. This cashew production boost should serve as an added impetus to get our steel mill functional asap

(9) I hope Segun Awolowo and his colleagues at the Nigerian Export Promotion Council are treating this matter seriously. By now, he should have visited every major retailer in the world to preach the virtues of Nigerian cashews. Apparently cashew exports earned Nigeria $152m in 2015. He should aim for $500m in 2019 as a mid term goal

(10) Of paramount importance too is the fact that this should be a catalyst for industrialisation. We need processing factories that employ say 500 workers each, that offer training, which provide a sustainable living wage and which are prepared to expand into the processing of other edible nuts and oilseeds.

We are the world’s sixth largest agricultural producer but alas, crude oil accounts for over 90% of government revenue. This should be the starting point of the turnaround!

Source: Anonymous