Agriculture
Cashew: Nigeria Loses 80% Annual Production
The National Publicity
Secretary of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Sotonye Anga, has said that Nigeria loses about 80 per cent of total annual production of cashew apple.
Anga who stated this while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt said this represents apples worth N8.6 billion wasted annually due to the absence of technology to process the commodity into juice.
He said extreme price volatility also threatened the livelihoods of many small producers.
According to him, an estimated 25 million people worldwide cultivate the crop but were small-scale producers who derive limited economic benefit compared with the traders roasters, distributors and investors among others.
He said that the social and environmental conditions under coffee production differ among nations.
According to him, concerns range from workers’ rights and child labour, as well as the use of agrochemicals, deforestation and impacts on biodiversity.
Explaining further, he said co-operatives also play important role in empowering rural communities in improving their access to knowledge, inputs and finance and fair market activities.
He said in Ethiopia, cooperatives provide educational and health benefits for its members.
The publicity secretary said such practice could be replicated in Nigeria so that members could benefit from the provision of pre-harvest financing and insurance against crop loss.
Anga said the key standards should be fair trade that would guarantee minimum price for smallholders, replacing of inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides with organic ones.
Describing the cashew apple as the fruity part of cashew attached to the cashew nut, he explained that other variants derivable from the cashew include the kernel from the raw cashew nuts and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) from the shell.
“Currently, 95 per cent of all cashew shell is wasted and termed as waste in Nigeria,” Anga said.
Livestock being transported for sale, grazing in Zaria last Thursday, due to curfew in Kaduna State that has been lifted.
Federal Government and the Ogun State Government, on Wednesday, distributed farm inputs to farmers as part of effort to address food security challenge.
The State Director, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Toyin Ayo-Ajayi, during the flag-off ceremony of Inputs Redemption Under The National Agricultural Growth Scheme-Agro Pocket (NAGS-AP), in Ogun State, disclosed that beneficiaries of the gesture were primarily rice, maize and cassava farmers across the State.
Ayo-Ajayi commended the Ogun State Government for partnering with the government at the centre for the effort in supporting farmers with inputs that would bring about yieldings for local consumption and likely exportation.
She noted that government is supporting rice, cassava and maize farmers with inputs worth N212,000; N189,000 and N186,000 respectively.
The Permanent Secretary in the State Ministry of Agriculture, Mrs Kehinde Jokotoye, who represented the Commissioner in the Ministry, Bolu Owotomo, stated that traditional farmers are critical in food production, hence the need to encourage and support them with inputs that would bring about desired results during harvesting.
Owotomo said: “Let us make good use of this opportunity, so that the success of this phase will make farmers benefit more from the state and federal governments of Nigeria.”
Earlier, State Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Oluwatoyin Ayo-Ajayi, appreciated the present administration for partnering with the federal government for the initiative, adding that the programme is designed to support farmers at the grassroots level in cassava, rice and maize with inputs such as, seeds, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, to boost their production and enhance their livelihood.