Provides before and aftercare commercial business development services (BDS) to local cashew industry project beneficiaries including SMEs, farmers, cooperatives and communities and foreign direct investors and their projects.
Is managed by the Nigeria Agribusiness Register (NAR) with grant support from donors, development partners, State and Federal Government of Nigeria.
Maintains a database of BDS providers with expertise to offer specialised services to project beneficiaries & promoters in the cashew sector
Supports investments in realizing their developmental impact and potential.
Vision
To be the hub for cashew investment facilitation in Nigeria and West Africa
Mission
To create impact and increase inclusion by supporting cashew project start-ups and scale-ups with information, BDS and access to impact capital (grants, venture capital, etc.) and product markets
Goal
To facilitate investments into cashew projects, companies and communities and improve livelihoods, strengthen and connect communities and cashew enterprises with global cashew value chains.
Our Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Number and value of investments of green field cashew projects (e.g. commercial farming, processing, aggregation/warehousing) catalysed into operation by CTAF
Number and value of investment of inactive & moribund cashew processing companies revived back into operations
Number and value of grants received by small and medium processors for capacity development with farmers
Number and value of funds (loans, equity capital) facilitated into the cashew sector
Percentage increase in cashew processing capacity as a result of CTAF Activities
Volume and value of cashew kernel sold by project beneficiaries
Percentage increase in Nigeria’s cashew Kernels export (against baseline) as a result of CFAT activities
Number of jobs generated by project beneficiaries (disaggregated by gender) as a result of CTAF interventions
Number of farmers who adopts new technologies as a result of CTAF interventions
Volume and value of sales by CTAF cashew farmers beneficiaries
A 2021 survey of cashew processing capacity in Nigeria reveals the following information:
*Active processing plants (15) with estimated capacity of 55,750 metric tonnes;
*Inactive (8 plants) with estimated capacity of 8,500 metric tonnes; &
*Planned new investments (6 plants) with estimated projected capacity of 23,910 metric tonnes. .
Nigeria’s annual harvest is about 300,000 MT per annum
About 180,000 MT is traded annually as RCN
About 15,000 MT is processed into kernel annually
About 10,000 MT kernel volumes are exported annually.
CTAF is working with government and private sector partners to expand Nigeria’s RCN production and processing capacity from the above baseline figures.
Service Areas
C.1. Organize farmers into clusters, training, demonstration and knowledge transfer services; strengthen existing coops, so they can be integrated in global supply chains.
C.2. Provide market, knowledge and information services to value chain actors, cooperatives.
C.3. Provide feasibility studies, economic analysis, EIAs, to new investors and new projects
C.4. Provide financial linkages and fund intermediation services including addressing access to finance issues for local project beneficiaries and foreign investors through a Blended Finance Facility to be established as a separate project with donor support.
C.5. Provide arrangement for inputs and extension management support for farmers, cooperatives and production clusters.
C.6. Provide food safety and quality assurance for processors and traders
C.8. Provide advisory services on quality control and improved pre and post-harvest handling practices for farmers.
C.8. Facilitate commercial linkages between aggregators/exporters and farmers’ cooperatives/clusters for the production and uptake of cashew
C.9. Support market development of industrial parks for increased processing of cashew for export. Attract investors to settle in existing industrial parks.
C.10. Provide recruitment of farm and off-farm labour, technical and management personnel. Provide management assistance and organizational strengthening of farmer’s cooperatives, industrial park owners, processing companies, aggregators, etc.
C.11. Provide technical assistance and organizational capacity strengthening to the State Investment Promotion Agencies (SIPAs) and the State Export Promotion Agency for cashew sector development; and other relevant government agencies involved in agricultural trade and investment promotion activities at State level.
Projects/Activities
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION & MANAGEMENT
NAR IS OPERATOR OF THE CASHEW –IN PLATFORM IN NIGERIA (Nov 2021 – ONGOING)
The Cashew-IN platform aims to facilitate access, understanding, and use of data to improve decision making, improve current data sharing mechanisms and generate better outcomes in the cashew market in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote’Ivoire, Benin and Burkina faso – beneficiary countries of the Pro-Cashew project funded by USDA, implemented by CNFA. The platform was designed and coordinated by Development Gateway. NAR/CTAF is the implementing partner for the CASHEW-IN Platform in Nigeria.
Deliverable One - List of Cashew Processors in Nigeria
Background
On March 8, 2021, Technoserve(TNS) awarded a short-term assignment to Roland Oroh, Founder and Director of the Nigeria Agribusiness Register (www.nar.ng), to research and compile a list of cashew processing companies as part of a cashew processing landscaping exercise for Nigeria. In conducting the research, we accessed data from company owners, the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, from the Nigeria Agribusiness Register’s database, from secondary sources, from key informant interviews and from prior one-on-one engagements with potential investors. Some intelligent estimates were made, as some companies were not willing to disclose their capacity while others could not be reached as at this time of reporting.
Findings
Nigeria potentially produces between 200,000to 240,000 metric tons of raw cashew nuts annually. Out of this,150-180,000 metric tons are exported as raw cashew nuts (RCNs) to India and Vietnam, while about 10 -15,000 metric tons are processed into kernels locally. About 10,000 metric tons are exported as semi-processed kernels for export while the remainder are processed into retail products for local consumption. The potential for export quality processed kernel was estimated by industry actors to be 50,000 metric tons annually if supportive measures were in place and constraints (like high lending rates, low investment and low incentive for farmers and aggregators to improve the quality of nuts), were removed. While some processing plants were active, many have become moribund over the years since they were started. However, a few new processing plants are in the pipeline. The graph below presents a graphical illustration of active, inactive and proposed/new plants in Nigeria. The table below presents our findings
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Trade and Invest in the Nigeria Cashew Sector Session
The Nigeria Agribusiness Register in collaboration with World Cashew Convention and Exhibition cordially invites you to a special presentation session.
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The country has vast amounts of arable land but produces little of what it's more than 180m people eat. Rice can be grown across the country, yet groceries and markets nationwide stock produce from Thailand and China.
