By ANGELA KABAMBA –
CASHEW nuts are among the most versatile and healthy nuts on the planet.
It is for this reason that they are becoming incredibly popular all around the world.
To many, growing them is surprisingly easy as long as you have the right climate and a little bit of knowledge about the process.
These nuts were first introduced in Zambia in the 1940s.
The (Anacardiumoccidentale) tree is a tropical evergreen tree that starts fruit bearing after three to four years of plantation.
The growth of the cashew industry then was very slow due to low production and lack of marketing and processing facilities until 1985 when the Government commercialized cashew production and processing by establishing the Zambia Cashew Company.
The initiative was meant to strengthen the outgrower scheme to benefit the local people through the sale of their crop to the company.
Cashew is a strong plant that is renowned for growing in sandy soils that are generally unsuitable for other trees.
It is mainly farmed in the western part of Zambia and is one commodity that has been identified as being a high value cash crop that can earn the country much-needed foreign exchange.
This is because currently, cashew fetches around US$6,000 per tonne, which compares very well with the copper price which is now hovering above US8,000 per tonne although it is more expensive to extract copper.
In Zambia, the current cashew nut production stands at 850 metric tonnes per year from an estimated, 1,7 million trees that produce 0.5kg of raw nuts per tree annually.
This is according to a ministerial statement made in Parliament by then Agriculture Minister Dora Siliya November 22, 2016.
It is proved that the cashew hub in Zambia has approximately 1.3 million hectares with a potential to produce 130,000 metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts per annum, while the industry has the potential to create about 10,000 jobs and support 100,000 smallholder farmers.
It is against this background that the Government sourced financial support from the African Development Bank (AfDB) amounting to US$55 million to revive the industry.
The Ministry of Agriculture is implementing the project in the 10 districts in Western Province namely Limulunga, Mongu, Sikongo, Kalabo, Nalolo and Senanga.
The other districts are Mitete, Sioma, Lukulu and Shangombo.
The project is being implemented over a five-year period, which is likely to come to an end in June this year.
The districts were selected based on their high potential for cashew production, less frost, high incidence of poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, and vulnerability to environmental degradation and climate change.
The aim is to benefit 60,000 smallholder farmers/producers and processors (farmer groups and private sector), including 30,000 (50 per cent) women and 7,000 youths; each planting one hectare (100 cashew trees) and create about 6,000 full time jobs (for about 3,000 women) and (1,000 youths) along the cashew value chain from production, processing to marketing.
It was thought that the project would produce 130, 000 tonnes of cashew nuts per annum that would be used for both export and domestic consumption with the objective of supporting the country’s economic growth and food security.
It is projected that at full maturity of the cashew trees, each farming household, with one hectare, will have annual income of K2,223 (USD 430).
The development objective is to contribute to economic growth and food security, contribute to the country’s poverty reduction and improved household incomes through improved cashew production, processing and marketing.
The project will increase cashew tree productivity and production, contribute to improved household income, increase foreign exchange earnings from cashew products, and improve
rural employment for men, women and youths.
With the CIDP, Zambia expects to reach a cashew nut production totaling US$7.3 million by 2021, from which 99 per cent would be exported and 1 per cent used for domestic consumption.
This is according to French Plaza, a business media involved in employment, news and statistics.
The cashew project affirms Government’s commitment in reviving the cashew sub-sector in the Western part of Zambia by ensuring that smallholder farmers benefit from the massive investment that has seen the majority of women and youths participating in the project.
For Dorothy Samba Makina, 60, a widow with eight children, two grandchildren and three great grandchildren living in Kaeya camp in Senanga district, the investment in the cash crop would last for generations that will benefit her family even when she is no more.
Ms Makina, who claims to be an expert in cashew processing and management, said she had no idea on how to plant cashew trees.
But now, she boosts of 5,600 cashew trees which stands on 50 hectares of land planted in 2017 to 2018 from the inception of the project in the province some four years ago.
She has so far harvested a 20kg bag of nuts, but laments that the harvest was not good enough because the first trees she got were just ordinary ones that were not the dwarf variety from Tanzania.
Ms Makina said even if some may feel that the maturing process for the plant is long, she is encouraging other cashew farmers to intercrop their cashew fields with cassava, groundnuts, millet, maize, beans and many others so that when the trees are still in the process of production, there will be other crops to sustain the farmers families.
Ms Makina, who is also a lead farmer in the district, noted that it is imperative for cashew farmers to take advantage of the project before it ends by ensuring that the produce made is sold.
He said cashew cultivation can help to help support families and provide for children’s education, besides helping food security at household level.
Ms Makina encouraged women to venture into agricultural activities.
She expressed confidence that a woman can provide all the basic needs for a family.
She said woman should take part in such projects than just wait for handouts from the Government.
Ms Makina said her plan is to buy a car from her investment.
Senanga District Agricultural Coordinator Mukelabai Mwangala said the district’s target of cashew beneficiaries was 7,050, of which 5,295 cashew farmers benefited, which includes men, women and youths.
He said the district has gone a milestone ahead where 13 camp officers and 64 nursery operators were trained on nursery establishment and cashew crop management.
Besides that, one sorting/bulking shed has been constructed while one irrigation nursery and a 4.5 km feeder road has also been constructed in Lukanda camp within the district.
Mr Mwangala said the district has reached 75.1 per cent in terms of targeted beneficiaries, and 97 per cent target for infrastructure.
A report from the agribusiness department in the district indicates that the cashew produced, bulked and sold for the 2020/2021 season from the camps of Lukanda, Liangati, Ngundi, Seeyi, Namabunga and Kaeya after sorting is 299.50kg.
A check at the Barotse Cashew Company in Mongu district in Western Province reviewed that a 1kg of processed cashew nuts fetches K190, while a 500g is K105. 250g is pegged at K65, 100g at K35, 75g fetches K30, and 50g sells at K25.
Lukanda camp officer in Senanga District Jones Sichiila said enough knowledge has been acquired from the Cashew Infrastructure Development Project (CIDP) by the agricultural extension officers through a number or trainings, which has been imparted to the farmers in the district.
Mr Sichiila said after undergoing training with CIDP, the officers went to each zone within the district and chose lead farmers who were also trained to be trainer of trainers to the other farmers.
The lead farmers were told to form at least a group of 15 cashew farmers to work with and teach them how to manage cashew trees.
He said his camp has 700 farmers of which 500 are cashew farmers who benefited from the project and out of the 500 cashew farmers, 330 are women, while 170 are men.
Mr Sichiila said farmers have also been taught on how to preserve trees from some infections like powdery mildew and sucking insects that might prevent the trees from having the desired produce in case they are attacked by pests, by spraying prescribed chemicals like lamb Dex and Corovil so that other trees are not infected.
Western Province has great potential for growing cashew than most parts of the country.
This calls for cashew farmers not to tire, but continue cultivating the cash crop as it is an investment that will benefit future generations. – NAIS.
