The Farmcrowdy team recently embarked on a trip to evaluate a sponsored aggregation exercise going on at Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Oyo State is situated in the south western part of Nigeria. It’s rich soil and aeration, it has fast become the farmers dream to reap a bountiful harvest from.
But how profitable is the business of Cashew Plantation?
Ghana earned a princely sum of $233 million from the sale of cashew nut in 2017 from about 150,000 hectares of land. Most of the farmers around here posses similar amount of Plantation land, a venture the state government also supports. However, as with other agricultural produces, the last mile delivery to the target customers has always been a source of concern.
Having identified the potential this begets, Farmcrowdy has decided to help farmers get their products to the needing customers. Among the over 400,000 farmers within the network, the selection of farmers at Oyo State has gone ahead to further reflect the plans of the business to be a global Agtech company focused on helping stakeholders in the food value chain maximize their output
Need to Know
CASHEW NUTS
Cashew is an edible nut which is rich in oil and protein. The kernet is found inside a kidney-shaped (or, boxing-glove shaped, if you prefer) inedible nut of a cashew apple. Cashew kernels are packed with calories, soluble dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and numerous health-promoting phyto-chemicals that help protect form diseases and cancers.
All over the world, cashew is primarily used as snacks although they are frequently used in Indian cuisine too. 80% of global use is by the snack industry which makes use of the whole kernels. A lesser industry is the food processing industry which makes use of broken kernels, where they are used for chocolate bars, confectioneries, baked foods, cashew butter, cake and ice cream toppings and breakfast cereals.
WHERE CASHEW NUTS CAN BE FOUND IN COMMERCIAL QUANTITIES IN NIGERIA
In Nigeria, cashew season is from February to May but is often traded for much longer (by traders who had stored the nuts during the season). Cashew can be found in exportable commercial quantities in Oyo, Osun, Kogi, Edo, Niger, Kwara, Imo and Enugu States. In terms of location, if you are interested in getting good quality and quantity of cashew nuts in Nigeria, the specific locations you may target are Ogbomoso, Iseyin, Oyo Town, Saki in Oyo State, Iwo and Ejigbo in Osun State, Anyigba and Ankpa in Kogi State, Auchi in Edo State, Lafia in Nassarawa State, Keffi in Niger State and Okigwe in Imo State.
