The country is targeting an annual income of over $700m (N138bn) from the export of cashew nuts by the year 2020.
The National President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria, Mr. Tola Faseru, who disclosed the figure at this year’s annual cashew logistics meeting, noted that the government and all stakeholders in the cashew value chain were making efforts to raise the production from the current 180,000 metric tonnes yearly to 500,000 metric tonnes by 2020.
Faseru added that the meeting, which had in attendance exporters, shipping companies and freight forwarders, was aimed at addressing all the challenges that cashew export faced in 2015 and prepare for the next season, which starts in February, in order to pave the way for a hitch-free export process.
According to the NCAN president, Nigeria will export 6,400 40-feet containers of cashew monthly in 2016, adding that the aim was to increase these to 20,000 40-feet containers by 2020.
“Cashew is Nigeria’s second largest non-oil foreign exchange earner, with a production volume of 180,000MT and an annual income of $250m. The crop has been earmarked as one of the five agro-industrial products among 13 products for diversification and it accounts for 200,000 jobs,” Faseru said.
He added that 85 per cent of Nigeria’s cashew was currently being exported to Vietnam and India, while the country was also exploring the market for cashew kernel, shell and liquid exports.