(Ecofin Agency) - In Côte d’Ivoire, just 40% of cashew nuts stock has been sold so far for the ongoing season against 80-90% the same period last year. This was revealed to Agence ivoirienne de presse (AIP) by Bamba Adama, head of cashew growers’ federation.

Indeed, the higher farm gate price of cashew in other countries prompts Ivorian producers to smuggle the nuts into these countries leading to the poor performance recorded in Côte d’Ivoire during the period under review. For instance, according to AIP, while this price is CFA500 per kg in Côte d’Ivoire, it is CFA900 in Burkina Faso and CFA1, 000 in Guinea-Bissau.

Let’s recall that Côte d’Ivoire expects to produce 750, 000 tons of the nut in 2018 against 711, 236 tons in 2017. In this country, Cashew sector sustained about 1.5 million people.

Espoir Olodo