Cashew farmers, Media persons, other stakeholders in a group picture after workshop on how to improve cashew yields in the country
THE TREE Crops Development Authority established to improve and regulate cashew production and pricing says it has so far registered 1,600 cashew traders in the country.
This forms part of efforts to assist farmers and industry players in the sector with the necessary skills, knowledge and technical know-how to improve yields and quality of the economic crop and attract good price on the world market.
The Wenchi zonal value chain officer of the Authority, Dwoben Nyan Takyi, made this known in Sunyani during a media engagement organised by Cashew Watch Ghana, an advocacy group in the cashew industry.
The event brought other stakeholders including farmers to brainstorm and see how best to advocate for good policies and programmes to improve cashew production in the country.
Addressing the participants, Mr. Takyi stressed the need for cashew farmers to inculcate good agronomy practices to improve yields and quality seeds that attract premium price for the commodity.
Explaining what the authority has been doing since its establishment in 2019, Mr. Takyi noted the Act establishing the authority (Act 1010 2019) made it compulsory for all cashew farmers including traders, aggregators and exporters to register with the Authority.
“So far, about 1,600 buyers including traders, aggregators and exporters have been registered and soon will start registering the farmers,” he said.
He noted that the registered members have been trained on cashew quality and have been to factories in Wenchi, Jaman North and South, and Tain districts to identify problems and give technical support.
Mr. Takyi said since pricing is related to quality, members have been educated on picking the fruits at the right time to ensure they are very dried before selling to traders.
“Premium quality is of importance to the Authority,” he reiterated.
He, however, raised concerns over the low international rating of the country’s cashew from 3rd to 4th position in 2022 and pleaded with the farmers to ensure it doesn’t drop further.
The national coordinator of Cashew Watch Ghana, Raphael Aheno, in a presentation said there was the urgent need to revolutionalise Ghana’s cashew production sector to capture a chunk of the world market share which is expected to reach $10 billion in 2030 from $8 billion in 2022 according to research.
Currently, Ghana only contributes $300m saying the country’s market share is woefully inadequate.
According to him, as part of Cashew Watch Ghana projects, the organisation is ensuring children are not involved in growing the crops but empower women and youth, community based organisations and religious and traditional leaders to take active part and make wealth.
The Bono Regional Director of Agriculture, Denis Abugri Amenga, praised the efforts of Cashew Watch Ghana to advocate for policy enhancement and implementation that positively affects income and livelihood of cashew farmers.
The Bono Region plays significant role in growing of cashew in the country saying many of the farmers are in it and it has created employment for many in the value chain.
The media in the region was charged to highlight more issues affecting the industry to draw policy makers’ attention especially political parties to factor them in their manifestos.
FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani