Cashew Buyers Advised To Register Their Companies To Avoid Future Setbacks
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater 
The National Organizer for Cashew Traders And Exporters Association (CTEA), Mr. Kwabena Owusu, has cautioned all cashew buyers across the cashew growing areas to ensure effective registration of their business to prevent future difficulties in the discharge of their businesses.
Speaking in an interview with Soireenews.com, Mr. Abrampa urged all cashew traders and exporters to fully register their business to facilitate unity among the buyers for a successful business.
According to him, all buyers must desist from buying undried cashew nuts from farmers because it will go a long way to affect the cashew businesses.
He added that there may be punishment for buyers who goes contrary to the rules of the Cashew Traders and exporters Association on the purchase of dry nuts only.
He indicated the Association's readiness to soon deploy a task force to inspect the buyers on the nature of cashew being purchased.
Mr. Owusu advised farmers to dry up their cashew nuts before presenting them to buyers to guarantee the expected best price being demanded by Farmers.
For his part, the National Organiser of the
Progressive Cashew Buyers Association of Ghana, Alhaji Siaka Barus has lauded the current for pegging a kilo of cashew at GH¢5. 00.
The new price, according to him, will be used as a base price for cashew in the 2022 crop season.
Following this development, Mr. Barus noted that the government’s intervention in the industry to set up the base price has brought sanity into the cashew sector.
The National Organizer explained that the base price is in the right direction, saying that is a win-win situation.”
Alhaji Barus who doubles as the Chief Executive Officer of the AS Barus Company Limited, a Sampa-based cashew buying company, entreated the cashew farmers to use quality or the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) sack to store their produce.
He entreated the farmers to dry their nuts well in order to reduce their moisture content to help fetch them a good price in the market.
According to him, the cashew industry has the potential to be one of the biggest foreign exchange earners for the country if the government invests heavily in it.
“The cashew industry has huge economic potential that could widen the nation’s foreign exchange earnings. Therefore, I call on the government to invest in the sector.”
Alhaji Barus added that the global demand for cashew remains higher, hence the need for the government to support farmers to expand their farms and to improve yields.
He stressed the need for the government to motivate the unemployed youth to engage in the commercial production of cashew.
“This would greatly help the nation to increase its annual cashew production, create jobs and enhance government’s revenue as well.”
On his part, the President of the Cashew Traders and Exporters Association of Ghana (CTEAG), Alex Owusu Adjei, expressed happiness about the new minimum price of raw cashew nuts, adding, “It is a process and will improve as time passes”.
Mr. Adjei called for cashew farmers to dry their cashew nuts to achieve 10% or below moisture content before selling them to buyers.
Mr. Adjei called on the raw cashew nut merchants not to show interest in cashew nuts that are not correctly dried to ensure international standards for the commodity.
The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Yaw Frimpong Addo, recently announced GH¢5 as the minimum producer price for raw cashew nuts (RCN). He called on players along the cashew value chain to respect the pricing regime.
The Deputy Minister explained that “if we say minimum price, it is a price that nobody can buy this product below but above, you can negotiate”.
Mr. Frimpong Addo disclosed that the minimum producer price for the commodity in Ghana comes after several sections of direct consultation with major actors within the agriculture subsector.
“The emphasis here is direct consultations with all relevant actors and stakeholders within the cashew value chain, so it is not an imposition of price from anywhere. It by consensus that this price is coming.”
The cashew sector is increasingly becoming one of the most important agricultural sectors in Ghana. The sector has grown into one that contributes significantly to economic growth, particularly in job creation and poverty reduction.
The African Cashew Alliance (ACA) estimates that over 800, 000 people are directly and indirectly employed across the cashew supply chain, including farmers, factory workers, buyers, and exporters of the commodity in Ghana.
