Cashew nuts emerged as the only agricultural product that ranked among the top 10 leading non-traditional export (NTE) products in 2021, a report by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority has revealed.
It contributed 60.38 per
cent of the total earnings from the agricultural sub-sector, 14.35 per cent
higher than what it did in the year 2020.
According to the 2021 report, total
value of the top 10 leading products amounted to $2 billion, representing 62.96
per cent of total NTE earnings for 2021 which stands at $3.3 billion.
Export Strategy
The report noted that due to the
potential of the crop, cashew nut had been prioritised among the integrated
list of 17 products earmarked for attention as part of GEPA’s export
development strategy.
It said under the National Export
Development Strategy (NEDS), an approach had been adopted to add value to raw
materials as part of the country’s industrialisation drive.
“The focus of NEDS is the integrated
list of priority products. In total, the priority products on the integrated
list are projected to generate at least $24.1 billion in export revenue by the
end of the implementation of the NEDS in 2029,” it said.
In the strategy document that also
details the potential, limitations and policy proposals of the cashew industry,
GEPA said the country needed to prioritise domestic processing of the cashew
nuts over raw exports, given the impact on revenues, job creation and the
development of a full value chain on cashew.
It said although factories in the
country had the capacity to process about 60,000 metric tonnes of the product
annually, majority of them were idle as most buyers preferred to export the
nuts in their raw form.
It explained that a study conducted by
the Ministry of Food and Agriculture found that of every 100 metric tonnes of
raw cashew nut (RCN) that was exported, the economy lost about 30 jobs at the
processing level and about $60,800 in income that would have gone to workers in
the factories.
Export tariffs
The GEPA report said the current
situation where the country exported almost all its raw cashew nuts undermined
its agenda to add value to exports and to create a robust industry that
supported economic development.
It said the government could also
consider protecting the sale of raw cashew nuts by offering incentives to those
who sold their nuts to the local processors.
"Export tariffs for raw cashew
nuts can be increased to discourage the export of the nuts without value
addition," it said.
Meanwhile, the Cashew Industry
Association of Ghana, has drawn up a 10-year cashew development plan that seeks
to, among other things, embark on a rapid planting and mass spraying programme
to ensure that by the year 2029, the country will achieve its annual local
cashew harvest of at least 500,000 metric tonnes.
Source: Graphic Online