Rejuvinating The Cashew Nut Industry

The story of Cashew nuts began in 1985 as an out grower scheme that was started by the then Kenneth Kaunda government.

According to Moses Shimbilimbili who is the coordinator for the Cashew Development Project, over ten thousand farmers were recruited by the then Kenneth Kaunda government.

 

This exercise saw over 1.7 million trees planted and the cashew nut industry bloomed, however the Cashew nut factories were privatised in 1997.

The worst hit were the Cashew nut farmers whose main market had been the State, they were abandoned for over twenty years.

In 2007 farmers came together, mobilised themselves to revitalise the cashew nut industry but funds were needed.

The Industry needs about KR 12 Million in order for this to happen, which requires about KR12 million .

Luckily they have the support of Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) who originally pumped in KR550, 000 which was used to purchase some equipment and cashew nuts from farmers.

However, the economic viability of cashew nuts runs out after 30 to 40 years after which they no longer bear nuts.

This sadly is the case with the Western Province cashew nut trees, the 1.7 million trees are no longer active so there is need to plant new trees.

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