STAR Ghana Foundation has committed GH¢348,561 into the development of cashew farming in the Bono Region to enhance production of the tree crop and improve farmers’ incomes and livelihoods.
The fund would be channelled into mobilising and capacity-building of cashew farmers’ cooperatives for effective participation and inclusion in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring of cashew-inclined projects in the country.
The 14-month project, ‘Amplifying the Voices of Cashew Farmers (AVCF)’, which is being implemented by Watch Ghana (CWG) – a civil society platform on cashew, seeks to equip at least 1,500 cashew farmers with requisite skills and knowledge to effectively engage government and key stakeholders to influence policy and practice in the sector.
The project is targetting cashew farmers in Tain, Jaman North and South Districts in the Bono Region. The region is the major production area in the country.
The National Convener of the Cashew Watch Ghana, Raphael Godlove Ahenu Junior, in a press release, said: “The cashew sector is increasingly becoming one of the most important agricultural sectors in Ghana. The sector has grown into one that contributes significantly to economic growth, particularly in job creation and poverty reduction”.
Statistics from the African Cashew Alliance indicate that over 800,000 people are directly and indirectly employed across the cashew value chain, including farmers, factory workers, buyers and exporters of the commodity in Ghana.
The estimated annual production of raw cashew nuts (RCNs) is between 110,000 and 130,000 metric tonnes. About 85 percent of local production of RCNs is exported. Cashew has, for the past five years, been one of the top non-traditional export commodities in Ghana.
