(Ecofin Agency) - West Africa’s largest cashew processing firm, Usibras Ghana Ltd, called the Ghanaian to support cashew sector as it currently imports 5,000 tons of high-quality raw cashews from Guinea Bissau, due to limited access to the nuts in the country.

“We need prompt policies on the taxation of raw cashew nut exports, the establishment of a two months export window for raw cashew nuts, a minimum price for farmers per season and a long-term plan for the sustainable development of a flourishing cashew sector,” said Tarcisco Falcao, Operations Director of USIBRAS Ghana Limited. Truly, cashew processors struggle a lot to align with global market prices and offer unappealing prices to producers who are thus forced to sell their output on the global market, which is more attractive.

Since Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana’s main cashew provider, banned exports by land, challenges in the country’s cashew processing industry worsened. Now, Ghana gets most of its nuts from nations such as Guinea and Benin.

Olivier de Souza