Cashew Farmers, Investors Sign Pact, Target N220bn Revenue
Cashew farmers in Nigeria are entering into partnership with foreign investors in order to attract the required funding to grow the sector’s revenue to N220bn annually.
Speaking under the auspices of HOMENA Agribusiness Consulting Limited at a press briefing in Abuja, the farmers stated that Nigeria could generate up to N220bn annually from cashew production if the sector was properly coordinated.
HOMENA Director of Administration, Victor Onuche, told journalists that the sector was actually expected to contribute up to N50bn annually to the Nigerian economy.
He stated that the group decided to bring together foreign investors and cashew farmers to sign N3.6bn Memorandum of Understanding that would boost cashew production in Nigeria.
Onuche said, “This collaboration can move the initial N50bn to N220bn annually.
“Now, we are hoping that when the farmers and the financing agencies sign the MoU, in the next one year we hope that Nigeria can move up from the initial N50bn to N220bn annually.”
He stated that the synergy between the farmers and foreign investors was also capable of lifting over five million Nigerians from poverty.
Onuche observed that cashew production in Nigeria had not been properly harnessed over the years, hence the decision to seek investors to provide incentive for farmers to advance the course of production instead of waiting on the government.
“We have about 20 off-takers in Nigeria and now we are targeting at least additional foreign 15 off-takers,” he said.
The HOMENA boss said the major challenge hindering cashew production in Nigeria was that of inadequate lending.
He regretted that the financial institutions in Nigeria were not living up to their responsibilities of lending to farmers.
In his address at the briefing, a former official of the National Cashew Farmers Association of Nigeria, Isaac Ojonugwa, said Nigeria was currently producing over 200,000 metric tonnes of cashew.
He noted that the association discovered that the products often times ended up as waste because of high cost of production in Nigeria.
Ojonugwa expressed happiness with the MoU between farmers and foreign investors, noting that this would ensure that cashew produced in Nigeria got considerable off-takers.
