Onome Amuge
Nigeria’s cashew industry could generate as much as $10 billion in annual revenue and create millions of jobs if the country restructures production and invests more aggressively in local processing, according to the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN). Industry players say the sector represents one of the clearest opportunities for Nigeria to deepen non-oil exports and accelerate agro-industrialisation, but warn that current policies favour raw commodity exports at the expense of domestic value creation.
The projection was outlined in Abuja by NCAN president Ojo Joseph Ajanaku during a media briefing ahead of the association’s 2026 national conference and Nigerian Cashew Day. Ajanaku said Nigeria’s large land endowment gives it a natural advantage in cashew production, but that advantage has not translated into global competitiveness.
Nigeria has about 92 million hectares of arable land, yet only a fraction is cultivated, he noted. By contrast, Côte d’Ivoire, with significantly less land mass, has overtaken Nigeria in both cocoa and cashew production through coordinated policies, sustained investment and a deliberate focus on processing. “What Côte d’Ivoire has shown is that land alone does not determine outcomes; policy and execution do,” Ajanaku said.
While the country produces between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tonnes of cashew annually, generating roughly $700 million, most of that output is shipped abroad unprocessed. The bulk of the value is then captured by processors in Asia and other markets.
According to Ajanaku, Nigeria is losing significant income by failing to process cashew domestically. Beyond kernels, cashew processing yields by-products such as cashew nut shell liquid and industrial shell cake, which have established international markets but are often discarded locally. Cashew cake alone sells for about $0.95 per kilogramme globally, he said, highlighting the scale of missed revenue.
“If we are doing just two million tonnes of cashew annually, which we can achieve in less than five years, and the price is about $1,500 per tonne, that is $3bn already. When you add the value from by-products and process what we produce in Nigeria, it will give us nothing less than $10bn annually,” Ajanaku said.
Industry leaders argue that the cashew value chain offers more than export earnings. Weak domestic processing capacity, particularly in major producing states, has contributed to rural unemployment and migration to urban centres, worsening social and economic pressures. Expanding processing facilities closer to production areas could help create jobs, raise rural incomes and reduce post-harvest losses.
Agustine Unekwiojo, NCAN’s national secretary, said investment in the sector must go beyond kernel processing to include industrial derivatives used in fuels, coatings and agro-inputs. “Many investors focus narrowly on kernels, but that leaves substantial value untapped,” he said.
The association is using its 2026 conference, scheduled for January in Abuja, to push for what it describes as the right investments, relating to capital that supports the full cashew value chain rather than isolated segments. It is also calling for a national policy framework that gives Nigerian producers and processors greater control over the industry.
