{"id":4582,"date":"2019-08-16T08:30:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T05:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=4582"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:28","slug":"ghana-wants-to-grow-more-cashews-but-what-about-unintended-consequences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/08\/16\/ghana-wants-to-grow-more-cashews-but-what-about-unintended-consequences\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghana Wants To Grow More Cashews. But What About Unintended Consequences?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By <\/em><\/strong>James Boafo<\/em><\/strong><\/a> and <\/em><\/strong>Kristen Lyons<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over at least the last decade, one of Ghana\u2019s most vital\nbreadbaskets has been converted into cashew nut production to feed export\nmarkets<\/a>. Bono East, Bono and the Ahafo regions \u2013 previously known as\nthe Brong Ahafo region \u2013 are being transformed by cashew production. This\ngrowth has positioned Ghana as one of the largest producers of raw cashew nuts\nin Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cashew nut production has increased\nfourfold<\/a> across the continent since 2000. In Ghana, a number of\nsocial, economic and political circumstances in Ghana have enabled spectacular\nexpansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a start, there has been strong government\nsupport<\/a> as well as backing from international\ndonors<\/a>. Organizations such as USAID<\/a> and\nthe Gates\nFoundation<\/a> have also been instrumental in Ghana\u2019s cashew sector expansion.\nThis has included sponsored initiatives aimed at increasing production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of significance, over 98%<\/a> of\nGhana\u2019s cashew nuts are exported in their raw form to India\nand Vietnam<\/a>. Here the nuts are processed and re-exported to the US, Europe,\nthe Middle East, China and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, demand for cashew nuts has grown at around 7%<\/a> each\nyear. On this basis, cashew is predicted to represent 29%<\/a> of\nthe global nut market by 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A challenge for food\nsecurity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ghana, expansion of cashew production for export markets is\nchampioned as part of its plan for agricultural development. But it poses\npotential challenges at the local level, particularly around food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article draws from research<\/a> undertaken\nas part of a PhD, that has sought to understand the drivers and impacts of\nGhana\u2019s cashew expansion. The research found that farmers in the area\npreviously referred to as the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana have come to dedicate\nincreasing portions of their land to cashew nut production, with only a small\nportion of land set aside for household food cropping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversion of fertile land into cash crop production \u2013 and\nthe transformation of Ghana\u2019s breadbasket into cashew exporter \u2013 presents\nsignificant challenges for ensuring long-term food security in Ghana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghana has, in recent\nyears, relied on ad hoc<\/em> programmes to drive\ndomestic food security. But most of these programmes have not achieved\neffective results. This is partly due to the dominance of short-term\napproaches. One such Programme is the Planting\nfor Food and Jobs<\/a>, an initiative launched in April 2017 by President Nana\nAkufo-Addo. The Programme was designed to enhance food security and create job\nopportunities. But critics<\/a> argue\nit is an assemblage of old policy interventions that have largely failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting exports as a\npriority<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghana has come to depend on both imported and locally produced\nfood. Reflecting this, about70%<\/a> of\none of Ghana\u2019s major staples – rice – is imported. Meanwhile, some 15%<\/a> of\nmaize – another major staple – is also imported, alongside several other\nprocessed foods. At the same time, domestic food production also contributes\nsignificantly to national food supply. Local smallholder farmers therefore play\nan important role in feeding local populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is worrying is the extent to which smallholder and local\nfarming has become increasingly \u2018un-competitive\u2019. This is because they have\nlimited access to technology and poor infrastructure, among other social,\neconomic and political factors. This is nothing new, with the food crop sector\nhistorically marginalized in policy terms, and export commodities the priority\nof government over the long term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On this basis, smallholder farmers in Ghana\u2019s breadbasket\nare increasingly\ntaking<\/a> up government support packages that enable them to convert\nland into cashew nut production for export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What next?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the current – and expected future – challenges facing\nGhana\u2019s domestic food security, there is an urgent need to critically assess\nagricultural development policies and donor aid initiatives. There is also an\nurgent need to examine export led priorities, including in particular, cashew\nnut sectoral planning. This will be important to ensure the lure of export led growth\ndoes not compromise local food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, national agricultural planning and policy appears to\nprioritize production of export commodities and agricultural \u2018modernization\u2019\nabove local food production. While the national government can continue to\nsupport the development of Ghana\u2019s export cashew industry, there is a vital\nneed for programmes that increase support for local food crop farmers and\ndomestic food provisioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is also an – as yet unmet – opportunity for Ghana to\nbenefit from investments that enable in-country processing and value adding as\npart of expansion of the cashew sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such policy and planning initiatives may ensure Ghana is able to\nbenefit – socially and economically – from the growing global demand for cashew\nnuts, while at the same time centering national long term food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read original\narticle<\/a> on The Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By James Boafo and Kristen Lyons Over at least the last decade, one of Ghana\u2019s most vital breadbaskets has been converted into cashew nut production to feed export markets. Bono East,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}