Cashew Association Targets 1 Million Metric Tonnes Annual Production In 10 Years

By Sabiu Abdullahi

The National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) has announced plans to increase the country’s annual cashew production from about 300,000 metric tonnes to 1 million metric tonnes within the next 10 years.

The association’s president, Ademola Adesokan, revealed the target during the inauguration of NCAN’s national and state executives at the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) in Abuja.

Adesokan said the association also aims to process at least half of the projected 1 million metric tonnes within Nigeria. He explained that the initiative is supported by a well-defined implementation strategy.

According to him, the roadmap will promote industrialisation, expand non-oil exports, attract investment and create employment opportunities across the country’s cashew-producing states.

He stressed that state chapters would play a central role in achieving the targets because production activities take place at the grassroots.

> “Policy is written in Abuja, but cashew is grown, harvested, dried, aggregated, and stored in our states — in our farming communities, our warehouses, our local markets. The National Cashew Roadmap can only succeed if it has strong hands to carry it at the grassroots. That is why state chapters are not a formality. They are the engine room of this entire transformation.


“The quality of the nuts that reach our processors, the integrity of our storage systems, the efficiency of our aggregation networks — these do not happen in a ministry office. They happen because of the men and women in this room today, and the chapters you now lead.


“When a processor in Kogi or an exporter in Lagos can trust the quality of what comes through our supply chain, it is because a state chapter somewhere insisted on doing it right. That is industrial development at the grassroots — real, measurable, and yours to own,” he said.


The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment also reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the cashew sector. The ministry described the inauguration of the association’s executives as an important milestone in the implementation of the recently validated Nigeria Cashew Roadmap.

The Director of the ministry’s Industrial Development Department, Olumuyiwa Jayi-Ade, spoke through Assistant Director Popoola Abimbola. He said the inauguration signalled the beginning of the roadmap’s implementation phase after the completion of policy development.

He praised NCAN for its role in developing and validating the Nigeria Cashew Roadmap. He said the association had established a strong foundation for a sustainable and globally competitive cashew industry.

Jayi-Ade added that the ministry would work with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, NCAN and development partners to prepare implementation plans and institutional frameworks for the roadmap.

He also disclosed that the Nigerian Cashew Project Office (NCPO) would be established to coordinate reforms, strengthen collaboration among stakeholders and supervise the implementation of programmes across the cashew value chain.