Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) and Development Gateway (DG) have partnered to launch an innovative Platform under the USDA-funded West Africa PRO-Cashew Project to support the West African cashew sector and increase profitability for cashew farmers.

Visit the Cashew-IN Prototype Platform

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Voices from the Cashew Sector – Featuring Kassimou ISSAKA, Chairman, Benin National Cashew Steering Committee

"With the Cashew-IN platform, potential areas for production expansion can be identified in the national territory. The same applies to facilitating the monitoring of the evolution of the sector’s indicators. The information will be made available for proper decision making.."

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Project Activities

Steering Committee meetings

In Burkina Faso, the second steering committee (SC) meeting took place on June 3, 2022. SC members validated the technical requirements of the Cashew-IN platform. The inventory of data sources as well as their prioritization have also been completed.

In Nigeria, the SC workshop took place on June 9, 2022 and was an opportunity to validate the action plan, the sustainability plan, and the technical requirements of the platform.

In Benin, the first SC meeting was held from June 16-17. The participants validated the action and the sustainability plans, prioritized their data needs, and confirmed data sources to be used in the Cashew-IN platform.

Technical Development

Cashew-IN 2.0 and new features

The Cashew-In 2.0 will include additional production indicators as well as a public resources page allowing users to access and download content from the platform (studies, research, guides, training manuals) - at global or at country level- upon Cashew IN's admin review and approval. It also includes user's feedback collected during the feedback sessions organized in October 2021 as well as suggested improvements collected during DG's Cashew-In activities including workshops and various working sessions with partners and stakeholders.

The following figures have been extracted from the upcoming Cashew-IN 2.0.

This figure below displays the variation of the farm raw nut prices at country level throughout different years. The embedded filters allow users to update the graph and display information by a specific location, for a specific year or for a specific quality and moisture rate.

The density graph below cashew farm density at country level. It can be filtered by location, year or by farm age group for a more refined analysis.

The public Resources page illustrated below will be a repository of various type of cashew related resources. From official documents, to tutorials and other best practices, the resources page offers the possibility to be populated by country administrators and authorized registered users who have been granted permission to publish content to the site.

The second version of the Cashew-IN platform (2.0) is currently undergoing DG's quality assurance processes. being tested internally. UThe next step will be to conduct user feedback sessions which will be organized shortly after the release scheduled for August 2022.

Upcoming Activities

User feedback session of Cashew-IN 2.0
Presentation to the public of the Cashew-IN 2.0
Launch of the Regional Steering Committee meeting led by CICC during the ACA Conference in September in Abuja (Nigeria)

Voices from the Cashew Sector

By Kassimou ISSAKA, Agroeconomist, General Manager of the Territorial Agency for Agricultural Development (ATDA Pôles) and Chairman Benin National Steering Committee.

What is the Territorial Agency for Agricultural Development (ATDA Pôles) in a few words?
The Territorial Agency for Agricultural Development is an organization under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAEP) of Benin whose mission is to implement the government's policy on the promotion of promising sectors specific to the Borgou Sud - Donga - Collines of Benin. It has a legal status and financial autonomy and groups together 16 communes with its headquarters in Parakou. The ATDA4’s responsibilities include developing, validating, and conducting plans with key actors in the cluster’s territory; facilitating access to information and innovations for stakeholders in the sectors; coordinating agricultural sector development projects in the cluster; and coordinating the interventions of public and private actors in the agricultural sectors in the development cluster.

What is your strategy to contribute to the development of the cashew sector in Benin in the next 5 years?
For the period 2019-2021, Benin aimed to increase the production of raw cashew nuts to 300,000 tons and process 50% (i.e., 150,000 tons) locally. Currently, the evaluation of the achievement of this ambition is underway. However, it can already be noted that the target production has not been reached and the processing units installed have a capacity that is much lower than expected.

From 2021, the Government of Benin launched the feasibility study of the National Program for the Development of Plantations and Major Crops (PNDPGC). The cashew nut sector figures prominently in this program. Indeed, Benin plans to install 500,000 ha of new cashew plantations within five years and to process locally all of its production. To achieve this, processing units and a decree have been issued by the Government to prohibit the export of raw cashew nuts from Benin as of April 1, 2024.

How can the Cashew-IN platform help you achieve your objectives?
With the Cashew-IN platform, potential areas for production expansion can be identified in the national territory. The same applies to facilitating the monitoring of the evolution of the sector’s indicators. The information will be made available for proper decision making.

For any questions or comments, please reach out to Constance Konan at ckonan@developmentgateway.org.

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