The incessant rejection of Nigeria’s cashew at the international market, basically due to quality problem has been attributed to the disruption of the product’s value chain by exporters.

This has been largely linked to the activities of exporters, especially the foreigners who have formed the habit of invading farm gates to buy directly from farmers, without any recourse to quality control.

The stakeholders in the cashew sub-sector who raised the alarm during the National Cashew Consultative Meeting (NCCM), organised by the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) in Lagos, said the development has not only led to loss of revenue for the country, it has also dented its image due to the incessant rejections at the international level.

Managing Director, Starlink Global Limited, Adeyemi Folasole Adeniji, who said the industry is capable of generating over $15b to the country’s economy, lamented that Nigerians are bearing the brunt of the disruption because as the products are being exported, the money is not being fully repatriated back to the economy.

He said: “The disruption in the value chain is not only about the foreigners; it is just that foreigners are more culpable in the disruptions than Nigerian exporters. There is a value chain; exporters should play the role of an exporter and stay in Lagos, and any other place close to the Ports – Port Harcourt, Calabar and others.

“We have the licensed buying agents, we have the farmers, we also have other ones that are between the agents and the licensed buying agents. This is the chain; all of them make their money, they are in the value chain and they should not be cut off. But nowadays, those exporters have cut off that structure and have directly moved to the farms.

“So, the implications are two: one, the farmers are in a hurry to quickly get the products out, by not doing it properly, leading to bad quality. When you have bad quality, they’ll reject your products at the international level and that gives Nigeria bad name, that’s what we want to stop.”

Adeniji said if the sector players follow the rules and the complete value chain, where everyone plays their parts, they’ll make money, improve the quality and it will give the country a good name.

“They’ll buy cashew from Nigeria and go to Niger Republic or Cotonou, Benin Republic to get the certificate of origin and export. So, that money doesn’t come back here. The Forex problem we have has also contributed to it because the money doesn’t come back to this country, it is Nigerians who are suffering, we have the products being exported but the money not being fully repatriated back to the country’s economy.

“country can generate over $15b from cashew through value addition. Vietnam started cashew processing in 1992; today they are the largest processor of cashew. Over 75 per cent of the cashew globally is cultivated only in Africa. Nigeria signed the Africa Free Trade Agreement, if these cashews are exported from Nigeria, it will add value to our economy,” Adeniji said.

The National President of NCAN, Dr. Ojo Joseph Ajanaku, who disclosed that the consultative meeting was aimed at promoting the industry, said it was also targeted at having the holistic view of the policy on ground and how to enforce it.

Ajanaku said: “The government has interest of the people at heart, if this issue of value chain disruption and other challenges are not addressed, the farmers will continue to lose a lot of money to the foreigners. They are here to trade. The aim of every business person is to maximise profit and that’s the fact. They evade taxes; they pass through shortcuts in everything they want to do, in collaboration with some Nigerians.

“The goods still leave our ports because they’ll always tell you that they can have their way and that’s the truth. As an association, we have our ears to the ground this time because we are working with all agencies and we have been able to pin our people down to give us information. I can tell you confidently that if anybody is taking cashew out of this country, especially in another name, the container will be confiscated, no matter who is in the team because we are ready for them this time around.”

Ajanaku expressed optimism that Nigeria will soon become another Vietnam – importing raw cashews for processing. “This is because Nigeria is rich, whenever we are investing in any sector that is profitable, we invest massively. As I am talking to you, more than five factories are being set up in Nigeria to process cashew nuts and the smallest among them will process 15,000 metric tonnes of cashew yearly and many are coming into the sector.”

In his goodwill message, the President of Africa Cashew Alliance (ACA), Tola Faseru, represented by the Senior Manager, Colossus Industry, Ben Eduviere, said restricting the foreigners from the farm gates is necessary to ensure good quality of the produce.

“It is very essential that we address this issue now because as the foreigners are buying directly from the farmers, Nigerians are being cut off from the value chain, which means they are denying Nigerians opportunities due to the invasion of the farm gates.”