
Scientists push for investment in cashew value addition
THE Director of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Food Research Institute (CSIR-FRI), Professor Charles Tortoe, has called on key stakeholders to invest heavily in the country’s cashew sector which holds enormous untapped potential for economic development.
The stakeholders include the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), and the Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA).
He said the country was yet to fully harness the economic benefits from the crop due to limited value addition and processing capabilities.
With proper investment in science and technology, he said, Ghana could significantly increase revenue from cashew exports while creating employment opportunities for youth.
Prof. Tortoe made the call last Tuesday at the opening of a dissemination workshop and cashew fair in Accra.
Workshop
The event was organised by CSIR-FRI and its partners CSIR- Institute of Industrial Research and Opportunity International Savings and Loans Limited under the Maximising gains from Cashew production for youth development (MA-CASH) project.
The project, supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) grant through the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology (MEST), aims to reduce waste and drive sustainable development in the cashew industry.
The workshop brought together stakeholders of the cashew apple value-chain, international non-governmental organisations, government ministries and related organisations to disseminate the project findings, identify synergies and build functional partnerships to sustain the project's intervention.
Efforts
He explained that current practices in the sector were predominantly focused on exporting raw cashew nuts, which fetched lower prices compared to processed products such as cashew butter, cashew milk and other value-added derivatives.
He emphasised that the institute’s efforts to find research solutions to problems pertaining to cashew fruit waste, poverty alleviation and youth-led sustainable economic growth resulted in the development of the MA-CASH project that was piloted in the Bono and Bono East regions of Ghana with six farmer groups.
Major project outputs include the development and transfer of innovative value-added cashew apple and apple by-products, and beekeeping for agrobiodiversity on cashew farms with the potential to improve yields and generate alternative income.
Additionally, the project has enhanced market access and digital inclusivity by developing an app available on Google Play Store for processors, farmers and aggregators to facilitate trading.
Prof. Tortoe said these major outputs were laudable for the cashew industry and if supported to expand into other cashew growing areas would make a significant impact in the industry.
Govt commitment
In a speech read on his behalf, the Statistics and Information at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST), Cephas Mensah
commended the collaboration between research institutions, financial entities and the private sector as exemplifying the multi-stakeholder approach needed to drive sustainable development in agriculture.
He emphasised the ministry’s commitment to supporting innovative initiatives that bridge the gap between research and practical application while addressing pressing development challenges.
“As we move forward, let us build on these achievements to create a more sustainable, innovative and inclusive cashew sector in Ghana,” he stated.