The Managing Director of Starlink Global Nigeria Limited, the largest non-oil exporter in Nigeria, Adeyemi Adeniji has said that the cashew industry can generate over US$15 billion annually into Nigeria’s economy through value addition.
Adeniji stated this stating that Nigeria produces quality cashew and that if value can be added before exporting, the better for the nation. He said Vietnam started to process cashew in 1992, but today, it is the largest processor of cashew in the world. He said 75 per cent of the world’s cashew is cultivated and produced in Africa and that Nigeria signed the African Free Trade Agreement, and if this cashew is imported to Nigeria in raw and Nigerians add value, a lot will be made from there. FarmingFarmersFarms was informed that the demand for cashew nuts is growing across the world and that Nigeria has the best quality in the entire West Africa, courtesy of the efforts of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) and some of the exporters.
In the same vein, the National President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Ojo Ajanaku, stated that Nigeria will soon become another Vietnam where Nigerians will be importing raw cashew nut and will not only be processing what the country is producing, but will also be importing from other African countries to process in the country. “Nigeria is rich, when we are investing in any sector that is profitable, we invest massively, now as I am talking to you more than five factories are setting up in Nigeria to process cashew nut, and the smallest one among them will process 15,000 metric tonnes of cashew annually. I can tell you categorically, it is ongoing now and many are coming in into the sector. What we are doing, as an association, is to promote production so that at the end, every investors will benefit”, he added.
