Nigeria is one of the world's larger cashew growers, yet almost all of the crop leaves the country as raw nuts, taking the jobs and the profit of processing with it. A new federal blueprint is trying to change that.
A Roadmap for a Neglected Crop
The Federal Government has validated the Nigeria Cashew Industry Roadmap, described as a strategic plan to expand local processing, attract investment, raise farmers' incomes and create jobs for women and youth, according to the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation. Although Nigeria produces between 300,000 and 350,000 metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts a year, more than 85 per cent is exported without processing, depriving the country of significant economic value, the Minister of State for Industry, Sen. John Owan Enoh, said at the validation workshop. The ministry said the roadmap addresses long-standing weaknesses including ageing plantations, low productivity, poor infrastructure, weak quality standards and underused processing capacity, as also reported by BusinessDay.
From Raw Nut to Finished Product
Officials framed cashew as an emerging pillar of non-oil exports. The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, said cashew is cultivated across 27 states and the Federal Capital Territory and projected the commodity could generate about $500 million by the end of 2026, according to Voice of Nigeria. To coordinate delivery, the government said it would set up a Nigerian Cashew Project Office working with the agriculture ministry, the National Cashew Association of Nigeria and development partners, with success measured by more local processing, new factories and higher export earnings, according to BusinessDay.
Investment Starts to Follow
The policy push is not happening in a vacuum. A $75 million cashew processing plant backed by the guarantee firm GuarantCo is being developed in Ogun State and is expected to create up to 900 jobs, in a country that processes less than 10 per cent of its raw cashew domestically and loses much of its potential export earnings as a result, according to Nigeria Startup News. Industry leaders have long argued the crop is underexploited, with the president of the national cashew farmers' cooperative saying cashew can yield more than 40 high-value products and calling for a dedicated cashew board to regulate prices and drive value addition, according to Punch.
Value added at home means jobs, foreign exchange and a sturdier rural economy. FoodPrices Nigeria tracks verified retail prices across Lagos markets and follows the processing push that could, over time, strengthen the wider food economy that shapes what households pay.
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