Next money spinner

•Nigeria must take advantage of the boom of cashew nuts

Once upon a time, successive Nigerian governments and not an insignificant number of Nigerians celebrated what was popularly termed the ‘oil boom’ at various times when high international oil prices, created the illusion that the country had arrived at humongous wealth. This delusion bred massive corruption in government, frivolous and wasteful spending, misdirected policies, and, most dangerously, the sole dependence on petroleum as Nigeria’s major revenue earner.

By the time the President Muhammadu Buhari administration came on board in 2015, the massive revenues from sustained high oil prices in the preceding years had been completely squandered and the country had fallen on hard times, with the drastic fall in the price of oil and no preparations made for the proverbial rainy day. One of the hard-nosed decisions of the government was to vigorously pursue the diversification of the economy by boosting local agricultural production, both for export and domestic consumption.

The resultant burgeoning revolution in the agricultural sector yielded commendable dividends. There were substantial increases in the local production of such staples as rice, cassava and yam leading to the country reaping previously non-existent foreign exchange, from exports of such crops.

The good news is that the country appears to be on the verge of experiencing another imminent fiscal boom, this time from a most unlikely source – export of cashew nuts. According to the President of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr. Tola Faseru, farmers and exporters of the crop earned revenue of N145 billion ($402 million) in 2017 as compared to about $48 million to $50 million in 2011.

The NCAN president explained that there had been an upward trend in the revenue performance of the commodity since 2015 when the country earned $152 million from exporting 160,000 tonnes and 2016 which saw the export of 185,000 tonnes worth $259 million. He understandably enthused about the new good fortune of the cashew farmers and exporters as the price of the commodity had improved from between $300 and $500 per tonne in 2011 to about $1,800 per tonne today.

Indeed, it is noteworthy, as the association revealed, that there is an increased movement of people from urban to rural areas in a bid to venture into cashew production. Equally significant is the fact that farmers ascribe the new high demand for Nigeria’s cashew to enhanced improvement in the drying, processing and packaging of the product to meet international standards. While commending the government’s commitment to repositioning the economy through cashew production, Mr. Faseru expressed the association’s eagerness to continue to work with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture to further boost the productivity of its members.

This is certainly the way to go. There can be no room for complacency. The appropriate research institutes must be engaged to continually improve on the quality of Nigeria’s cashew nuts, especially as our major competitors in this sector – Vietnam, India, China, Ivory Coast and the U.S. among others – are unlikely to rest on their oars. Furthermore, it should be possible to research into possible byproducts of cashew, which can be locally produced for domestic use.

The cashew farmers’ complaint that the state of the Apapa port has serious negative impact on their export capacity underscores again the urgency of ongoing rehabilitation of critical infrastructure across the country. In 2018, NCAN had requested for a financial support of at least N20 billion to facilitate the export of the commodity. They may require more this year but this should be done in a structured and transparent manner that ensures accountability.

It is said that cashew can be commercially cultivated in virtually every state in the country. Other crops such as apples, oranges, tomatoes, mushroom, sweet potatoes and even flowers can be profitably grown in several parts of Nigeria. We urge the government to intensify its agricultural diversification programme to cover cashew and other crops as these could be Nigeria’s next, and more desirable, money spinners.