Gains on global cashew prices have jumped by 85 per cent in the past two years and Nigeria is gradually tapping into the windfall. 

Prices have increased from $750 per metric tonne in 2015 to $1,800/MT in 2017.

Amidst the global commodity price increase, exports of Nigeria’s cashew suffered a decline in 2016 when the country made $3.1m in the last quarter of the year. At the market price of $1,600/MT, export volume was a mere 1,937MT. By the first quarter of 2017, however, there was an improvement in the export volume.

Nigeria exported 4,444MT of cashew in the first quarter, earning $8m at the market value of $1,800/MT. This, it was learnt, increased dramatically by the second quarter of the year to 25,555.5MT. Nigeria’s earnings subsequently rose to a record high of $44.2m.

The government, towards the end of 2016, had embarked on an aggressive investment to boost the agricultural sector.

Farmers were encouraged to plant improved cashew seedlings with higher yields. Along with other initiatives by the Federal Government that targeted farmers with fertilisers and other materials.

The result was an increase in the local production of cashew crops.
According to the National President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria, Mr. Tola Faseru, 25,000MT has been added to the cashew production this year, bringing it to a 175,000MT annual production from the former figure of 150,000MT.