Rejuvenating the Cashew Nut Industry

Succulent Cashew Nuts can be eaten in various ways

The story of Cashew nuts began in 1985 as an out grower scheme that was started by the then Kenneth Kaunda government.

According to Moses Shimbilimbili who is the coordinator for the Cashew Development Project, over ten thousand farmers were recruited by the then Kenneth Kaunda government.

This exercise saw over 1.7 million trees planted and the cashew nut industry bloomed, however the Cashew nut factories were privatised in 1997.

The worst hit were the Cashew nut farmers whose main market had been the State, they were abandoned for over twenty years.

In 2007 farmers came together, mobilised themselves to revitalise the cashew nut industry but funds were needed.

The Industry needs about KR 12 Million in order for this to happen, which requires about KR12 million .

Luckily they have the support of Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) who originally pumped in KR550, 000 which was used to purchase some equipment and cashew nuts from farmers.

However, the economic viability of cashew nuts runs out after 30 to 40 years after which they no longer bear nuts.

This sadly is the case with the Western Province cashew nut trees, the 1.7 million trees are no longer active so there is need to plant new trees.

Cashew tree and Nuts

CEEC then helped develop an outgrower scheme by providing KR 1.7 million to rejuvenate the trees and to secure planting materials.

After realising the economic prospects of Cashew nuts the Government showed its support and added to the funds from CEEC.

Some of the money was used for research by sending Government officials to Mozambique.

Mozambique is one of Africas top producers of Cashew nuts and it is only befitting that Zambia learn from them.

 

The Industry received a KR 9000 from Ministry of Agriculture and KR 5000 from Ministry of Finance and National Planning.

The Cooperative had some problems in paying back the funds it borrowed owing to a variety of reasons.

 According to Mr Shimbilimbili one of the main reasons owing to this was the wrong assumption by the farmers regarding the economic viability of the trees.

The trees do not grow as many nuts as they used to but this has not deterred the farmers from pursuing their dream.

But as Mr Shimbilimbili puts it without the loan from CEEC they would still have been at zero level in terms of progress.

The CEEC gave them a loan when their dream was still merely words on paper.

Glenda Masebe who is the Communications and Public Relations Manager at the CEEC said it was clear that the farmers were making progress.

She said that it was encouraging to see people using the funds from CEEC for the purpose they were intended for.

She further explained that the Fund was meant to be a revolving fund thus it was good to encourage people to make progress so they could pay back the money in order for others to benefit.

She encouraged the farmers to write a report of whatever hurdlers they were facing in terms of repayment because she said that it was clear they were working hard.

The group of farmers have bought new equipment to process the nut, the new equipment accrues zero loss which is a great milestone.

The old one they were using took seven days for the nuts to be ready and accrued 97 percent losses.

Walusungu Banda the Provincial Empowerment Coordinator for the CEEC in Western Province says that when industry is fully functional 30, 000 jobs will be created.

The project has so far recruited 10,000 farmers and it is targeting 15,000 farmers in order to fulfil the dream of planting 200,000 trees every year.

This will be realised through each farmer planting 20 trees each year which become productive after 24 months.

The cashew trees are drought resistant, a bonus especially in this era of climate change and unpredictable weather patterns.

According to Mr Shimbilimbili the farmers are only supplying 5 percent of the national market as demand is higher than supply.

The future of course lies in exporting the nuts to other countries, a trend which has been rising in nations such as Nigeria, Brazil and Mozambique.

When exporting any products abroad it is not a supplier that people buy from it is a nation thus all produce has to adhere to Zambia Development Agency Regulations.

According to Commodity Online (a Global prices publication) ; major importers of cashew nut are US, European Union, China, and countries in West Asia.

Chicken and cashew nut salad from China

Global prices of cashew kernels are shaped by prices of competing tree nuts such as almonds, walnut, pistachio etc.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.; Anacardiaceae) is a tropical evergreen tree. It ranks third in world production of edible tree nuts.

World cashew trade picked up in pace only from mid-20th century, and it has gone through various changes in the subsequent years of its development.

Jamil Patel a shop owner in Lusaka says that cashew nuts are a widely sought after food with people from all walks of life trooping in to his shop to buy them.

Mr Patel says that the cashews can be a meal on their own adding that for women on slimming diets they can act as a food supplement.

“You know these days women are going on slimming diets, they can use cashew as it has filling properties. And it has no harmful fats.”

According to the Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition; “Cashews, like other tree nuts, are a good source of antioxidants.

Alkyl phenols, in particular, are abundant in cashews.  Cashews are also a good source of dietary trace minerals copper, iron and zinc.”

The 1985 trees’ properties are not known by the farmers thus they have been buying scions (cuttings from the branches) to bond to the new trees before growing them here.

“The trees from Mozambique have well known qualities we know whether they are sweet, bitter and so on. That’s why we are grafting from there, besides Mozambique has taught us a lot in terms of Cashew nut farming.” Mr Shimbilimbili says

CEEC took a leap of faith by helping the farmers and this fact is acknowledged by Pius Mishengo who is the former Acting Deputy Permanent Secretary of Western Province.

“Once the Cashew nut industry is up and running it will turn around the economy of  Western Province.” He said adding that a tonne of cashew nuts is practically equivalent to a tonne of copper.

He also urged on people who owed CEEC to pay back the money they owe as the money was meant to be a revolving fund.

“We are aware of success stories in the province, some people have utilized the funds but we are tired of singing the poverty song.

Loan recovery is a critical part of loan repayments, it is vital that everyone benefits from the fund and this can only be done if debtors pay back.” Mr  Mishengo says.

Ms Masebe says that CEEC has given loans to people to people in various areas, we encourage people to invest in different areas.

Economic diversity is vital for a developing nation and that is why the growth of the Cashew nut Industry should be supported.