Onome Amuge
The cashew sector recorded one of its strongest performances in decades in 2025, with export earnings surpassing $400 million, strong harvests supported by favourable weather and steady global demand for kernels. Yet behind the impressive numbers lies the challenges of translating commodity gains into a durable, value-adding agro-industrial base.
The underlying tension came into focus in Abuja during the 4th Nigeria Cashew Day, the Nigeria Cashew Summit and the 2026 Annual General Meeting of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN). Beyond the public disputes over governance and warnings against roadmap manipulation, the deeper issue is a contest over how Nigeria develops its agricultural commodities. The central question is whether cashew will mirror crops such as cocoa, rubber and palm oil, considered strong in primary production but weak in value retention, or emerge as a pillar of non-oil industrialisation.
A sector growing faster than policy capacity
Cashew has quietly become one of Nigeria’s most important agricultural exports. With production estimated at about 600,000 metric tonnes annually, the crop now rivals cocoa as a foreign exchange earner. More than 300,000 tonnes are exported each year, largely as raw nuts to processors in Asia, particularly India and Vietnam.
According to official data cited by Sheriff Balogun, president of the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), non-oil exports rose from about $5 billion to $6.1 billion in the past year, driven largely by agricultural commodities such as cashew.
“This is not accidental growth. It reflects the resilience of farmers and the strong demand in global markets,” Balogun said.
Yet resilience alone cannot address the structural weaknesses of the value chain. Industry leaders acknowledge that Nigeria processes only between 10 and 30 per cent of its cashew output locally, leaving most of the value and jobs offshore.
The raw export trap
The export of raw cashew nuts delivers quick foreign exchange but locks farmers and processors into thin margins and price volatility. Once exported, Nigerian cashew is processed, packaged and branded abroad, often returning to African and global markets at multiples of its original value.
Ibrahim Sanfo, president of the African Cashew Alliance (ACA), described this as Africa’s enduring paradox.
“Africa is the largest producer of cashew in the world, yet we consume less than one percent of what we produce. We export 80 to 90 percent raw. That is not a sustainable model,” he said.
From an investor’s perspective, the stakes for Nigeria are high. Expanding domestic processing would boost export earnings, create jobs across rural communities, stabilise farmer incomes and reduce exposure to volatile global commodity markets. Achieving this, however, depends on sustained investment in infrastructure, access to finance and policy coordination, areas where gaps have long persisted.
Infrastructure as the missing link
Unlike Asian processors that benefit from integrated power, logistics and quality-control systems, Nigeria’s cashew industry remains constrained by weak infrastructure. Processing demands high energy input, efficient transport and strict standards; requirements that current systems struggle to meet.
Discussions at the Nigeria Cashew Summit were shaped by a shared recognition that domestic processing capacity must be urgently expanded through public-private partnerships, the development of processing and aggregation clusters in producing states, access to affordable long-term finance, reliable electricity supply, and efficient logistics and port infrastructure.
Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia State governor, senator and one of Nigeria’s largest cashew investors, dwelled on the issue. “Cashew is not just a crop. It is a complete value chain that involves farming, processing, packaging, logistics, exports and by-products. Each stage offers scalable business opportunities,” Kalu said in his keynote address.
He argued that without deliberate infrastructure investment, Nigeria would remain a raw material supplier in a value chain dominated by others.
At this year’s cashew events, an emphasis on state-level responsibility was observed. While production is expected to be increased through federal initiatives such as the 500 million seedling programme, coordinated by the Office of Vice President Kashim Shettima, industry leaders insisted that the development of agro-industrial infrastructure remains the responsibility of state governments.
Cashew is grown across multiple belts, including Kogi, Oyo, Kwara, Enugu, Anambra, Benue and parts of the South-East and Middle Belt. Yet few producing states have dedicated agro-processing zones or commodity-specific industrial parks.
“States want revenue. Cashew offers that, but only if governors invest in roads, power and land aggregation,” said an agribusiness consultant in Abuja.
It is recognised that Nigeria’s agricultural transformation will not be achieved through federal policy alone; rather, it must be carried out in a decentralized manner, with strategies aligned to local comparative advantages.
Financing the processing gap
One of the most binding constraints on cashew processing is finance. Interest rates in Nigeria remain prohibitively high for agro-processing investments, with commercial loans often exceeding 25 per cent. For processors operating on thin margins, such costs are unsustainable.
Ojo Joseph Ajanaku, president of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria, disclosed that discussions are ongoing with federal financial institutions to secure soft loans at 3 to 5 per cent interest, a move that could alter the economics of processing.
“If processors can access affordable finance, the incentives change immediately. Margins improve, capacity expands, and farmers benefit,” Ajanaku said.
Stakeholders also called for blended finance instruments, export financing frameworks and targeted intervention funds; tools increasingly used in other emerging markets to crowd in private capital.
Policy choice: incentives, not bans
Historical patterns in Nigeria’s commodity policy reveal repeated challenges. Policies such as export bans and restrictive trade measures, often designed to incentivize local processing, have frequently produced unintended consequences, including smuggling, price distortions, and reduced investment.
Stakeholders at the cashew summit rejected such approaches and instead called for incentive-based policies, including tax reliefs for processors, tariff concessions on equipment, export credit guarantees, investment allowances, and support for backward integration models.
Processors were encouraged to adopt out-grower schemes and structured commodity partnerships, linking farmers directly to processing plants and improving productivity through inputs, extension services and guaranteed offtake.
Governance tensions as symptom, not cause
While NCAN’s AGM attracted attention for its firm stance against roadmap manipulation and its internal disciplinary actions, many observers see these disputes as symptoms of a deeper issue, given the rising economic value of the cashew sector.
As cashew becomes more lucrative, competition over representation, policy influence and access to programmes intensifies. Control over industry roadmaps now carries implications for billions of naira in investment decisions.
By insisting that all segments of the value chain must be convened in a single forum before roadmap validation, NCAN positioned itself as a guardian of inclusivity, particularly for farmers, who often bear the cost of policy missteps.
“This is about preventing elite capture. Roadmaps written without farmers usually end badly,”said a farmer representative from Kogi State.
AfCFTA and regional opportunity
Beyond Nigeria’s borders, cashew offers a strategic opportunity under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). With improved processing capacity, Nigeria could serve regional markets in West and Central Africa, reducing dependence on distant Asian processors.
Stakeholders urged domestic and international investors to explore opportunities across the value chain, including storage, logistics, product diversification and by-product utilisation, positioning cashew as a pillar of regional agro-trade.
A narrow window for reform
With the right combination of favourable climate, high global demand, and renewed policy focus, Nigeria has a limited yet meaningful opportunity. The momentum in cashew production today could either cement the status quo of raw exports or trigger a move toward creating value through agro-industrial development.
“Countries do not industrialise by accident.They do it by aligning incentives, infrastructure and institutions,” said Quadri Kujore, an economist who attended the summit.
The Nigerian cashew industry has reached a turning point. It has shown it can grow, but the bigger question is whether it can truly transform into a value-creating sector.
