Government has been charged to constitute regional offices to oversee the progress of the cashew industry to promote job creation and economic development.
The Tree Crop Development Authority Act, 2019 (Act 1010) provides for the establishment of regional offices, however, the Authority is not present in the regions as required leading to price volatility in the industry and negatively affecting cashew farmers.
The attention of the government is being drawn to this phenomenon and a warning that if the Authority does not act swiftly on the conundrum surrounding the cashew pricing, it may disincentive farmers to expand cultivation.
Member of Parliament for Techiman North, the Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare, who made a passionate call to the government in a statement she read on the floor of Parliament last Thursday, noted that the cashew industry has seen tremendous expansion over the last 10 years with statistics indicating Ghana exported 61,590 tons of raw cashew nuts valued at US$45.37million in 2008 while 394,452 tons valued at US$237,889,169 was exported in 2019.
According to her, reports from the Ghana Export Promotion Authority again indicates cashew was the only agricultural product that made it to the top ten nontraditional export products with a contribution of 55.29% of the total subsector earnings.
“The cashew industry in Ghana is a source of direct and indirect employment and income to about a million families.”
“This includes farmers, buyers, exporters and processors and of this number, about 40% are women,” she said.
Techiman North alone, she said, is estimated to have 17,624.8 hectares of land under cashew production with about 54,405.45 metric tons production per annum and contributing to about 52% of farmer’s income.
She lamented that a major concern to the rural cashew farmer is the price volatility, which has been a long-standing tussle among farmers, traders, exporters and processors, which led to the passing of Act 1010.
According to her, because of the absence of the Authority in the regions where the cashew is produced, the challenges still persist and urged the government to step in.
She disclosed that in Cote d’Ivoire, which is the largest cashew producer in Africa, the government has put policies in place to support local processing of raw cashew.
These, she said, include subsidy for cashew kernels exported, tax on raw cashew nuts, as well as a government guarantee fund to support processors pre-finance the purchase of raw cashew nuts and urged the Ghana government to give the sector more of such attention.
Mrs. Ofosu Agyare stated that adding value to Ghana’s cashew sector holds the potential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through job creation, poverty reduction and rural development.
“The time to act is now. As a country making every effort to consolidate our gains to sustain our middle-income status, it is incumbent on us to take advantage of the prospect we have.”
“I, therefore, pray the august House to urge the government to, as matter of urgency, constitute the regional offices to oversee the progress of the cashew industry, for employment generation and expansion of the economy for the development of mother Ghana,” she said.
Source: Mypublisher24.com/Osumanu Al-Hassan