News Agriculture

Burkina Faso Launches $11.5M Cashew Processing Plant

Burkina Faso Launches $11.5M Cashew Processing Plant
Monday, 26 May 2025 12:09

• Burkina Faso is building a CFA6.65 billion ($11.5M) cashew plant in Péni, set for 2025.
• The facility will process 5,000 tons annually, producing juice, wine, vinegar, and alcohol.
• Only 10% of cashew harvests were processed in 2024 despite higher installed capacity.

Burkina Faso, one of the premier cashew producers in West Africa, is looking to strengthen its processing sector, an area ripe with investment opportunities for value addition. A new processing factory will bolster the cashew sector in Burkina Faso, with operations set to begin in 2025. The construction of the new cashew processing unit, based in Péni within the Hauts-Bassins region, was kickstarted by President Ibrahim Traoré on May 22.

The project, costing a total of CFA6.65 billion ($11.5 million), is spearheaded by the Burkina Faso Council for Agropastoral and Fisheries Sectors (CBF). The new factory will process 5,000 tons of cashews annually to produce a range of derivatives, including juice, wine, vinegar, and alcohol.

Authorities anticipate the unit will be operational by December 2025. The increased processing capacity is expected to optimize cashew apple production and provide farmers with an additional income source.

Each year, the unit will spend over CFA500 million ($867,000) purchasing cashews from producers, an exceptional opportunity given that nearly all of the 400,000 tons of cashew apples produced annually in Burkina Faso go to waste or are underutilized because of a lack of processing infrastructure, according to a 2019 sector assessment study by the Study, Training, and Development Consulting Center (CEFCOD).

The diversification of cashew apple-based products demonstrates the government's desire to maximize the value of this long-neglected resource, especially as cashew almond production, the main transformed product in the cashew sector, continues to struggle to expand.

As per independent trade advisory firm N'kalô, Burkina Faso only processed 16,000 tons of cashew nuts in 2024, around 10% of its annual harvest, despite having a processing capacity for 30,000 tons since 2021, as per official data.

"By developing local industrial processing units, the country is embarking on a process towards inclusive industrialization, food sovereignty, and reduced import dependence. Through this initiative, the CBF reaffirms its commitment to make local processing a linchpin of economic development and a lever for the country's agro-industrial self-sufficiency," reads a statement from the CBF’s website.

Note that cashew shells, like cashew apples, are another under-utilized byproduct of the cashew sector. The Burkina Faso cashew sector generated approximately $111 million in export revenue in 2024, largely due to shipments of raw nuts, as per data compiled from the Trade Map platform.

On the same topic
Sub-Saharan Africa's agricultural sector accounts for 17% of its GDP and employs roughly 49% of the workforce. As the region's farming remains largely...
• Ethiopia, East Africa’s top soybean exporter, is able to export soybean meal to China since July 3, 2025. • China's new regulation serves to diversify...
South Africa plans to boost citrus exports from 164.5 million cartons in 2024 to 260 million cartons by 2032, a 58% increase. The sector faces...
• Ghana partners with Hattat Traktör to set up a tractor assembly plant.• Aim to boost agricultural mechanization, with 78% of work still done manually.•...
Most Read
01

• Investors seem to keep focusing on yields, which are high for the moment• New Leadership might see...

Afreximbank Bonds Retain Market Confidence Despite Moody’s Downgrade
02

• Qatar Airways and Kenya Airways establish strategic agreement, introducing a third daily flight be...

Qatar Airways Expands its Network in Africa, Building Presence in Kigali, Johannesburg, and Nairobi
03

• ECOWAS Bank funds 47.7-km stretch of strategic 700-km road project• Lagos-Calabar highway seen boo...

Nigeria Secures $100 mln ECOWAS Bank Loan for Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway
04

• EY is preparing to leave Francophone Sub-Saharan Africa by 2026• The exit could unlock $500 m...

EY’s Exit Creates $1bn Opportunity in Francophone Africa Consulting Market
05

• Inflation within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) fell to a two-year low of 0....

UEMOA: Inflation Drops to 0.6% in May, Driven by Lower Food Prices
Enter your email to receive our newsletter

Ecofin Agency provides daily coverage of nine key African economic sectors: public management, finance, telecoms, agribusiness, mining, energy, transport, communication, and education.
It also designs and manages specialized media, both online and print, for African institutions and publishers.

SALES & ADVERTISING

regie@agenceecofin.com 
Tél: +41 22 301 96 11 
Mob: +41 78 699 13 72
Média kit : Download

EDITORIAL
redaction@agenceecofin.com

More information
Team
Publisher

ECOFIN AGENCY

Mediamania Sarl
Rue du Léman, 6
1201 Geneva
Switzerland

 

Ecofin Agency is a sector-focused economic news agency, founded in December 2010. Its web platform was launched in June 2011. ©Mediamania.

 
 

Please publish modules in offcanvas position.