Cashew Cultivation in Ghana: A Comprehensive Overview

Nov 06, 2025 0

Ghana, meaning “Warrior King” in the native language Soninke, is located in West Africa along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Cashew cultivation in Ghana started in the 1960s with sporadic plantings in the Central and Greater Accra Regions and later spread to the Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.

The interest in cashew cultivation was rekindled with the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1983, when cashew was identified as one of the major non-traditional crops to be developed as part of Government’s efforts to diversify the country’s export base. Cashew is the leading non-traditional export revenue earner in the country. Over the past decade, increased demand, expansion of orchards, and government prioritization have caused raw cashew nut (RCN) production to become a critical commercial activity for smallholder farmers and a major revenue stream for governments.

West African production is also growing faster than that of any other region-ten percent over the past decade, generating $1.5 billion in export sales for over 1.1 million farmers. The $47.3 million five-year USDA Food for Progress West Africa PRO-Cashew Project (PRO-Cashew) (2019-2024) works to boost the competitiveness of West African producers by improving efficiency and quality in production and trade, and by working to develop more coherent regional trade and investment policies. Cashews were introduced to West Africa in the 1960s to fight erosion and desertification.

However, cashew gains made by West African producers face several serious challenges: reduced yields due to aging cashew tree stocks, farmers’ limited technical and financial capacity to rehabilitate and renovate aging orchards, and an undeveloped nursery sector unable to provide timely and consistent high-performance seedlings to offset declines in productivity.

This is complicated by the fact that the same trade policies that have boosted exports also pit countries against their neighbors, producing uncoordinated regional policies that weaken public and private-sector support for cashew grower/seller advocacy efforts.

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To mitigate these challenges, CNFA (Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture) implements several strategies:

Build Capacity: CNFA builds the capacity of farmers through selected farmer organizations and agro-food suppliers over the life of the project in the areas of business and orchard management and service delivery.
Facilitate In-Kind Grants for Equipment and Inputs: CNFA supports private sector nurseries (larger than 10,000 cashew trees per year) and potential large processing companies to improve the efficiency and sustainability of seedling production systems by facilitating public-private partnerships, growing cost-effective, high-performance tree seedlings at central nurseries and distributing seedlings close to farms through rural-based seedling retail businesses.
Disburse Improved Market Information: CNFA strengthens existing data and fills significant gaps in data coverage and quality.
Improve Policy and Regulatory Framework: CNFA engages with national and regional policymakers, private sector stakeholders, and development agency partners to facilitate and improve regional trade policy cooperation.

Cashew Growing Regions in Ghana

Cashew grows in seven out of the ten regions of Ghana, although it is mostly found in the Brong Ahafo and the Northern Regions. In Ghana, it is grown mostly in the forest-savanna transition, guinea savanna and coastal savanna areas in regions such as Bono, Bono East, Oti, Savanna, Northern, Upper West and Upper East; parts of Ahafo, Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra and Volta regions.

Raw cashew nuts are predominately grown in economically fragile areas. Our intent is to procure the nuts in a manner that safeguards the communities’ social fabric and environmental resources. As a processor, we depend on our procurement supply chains to process the finest quality cashew kernels. Our goal is to secure high-quality raw cashew nut from as close to the source as possible.

Direct Procurement Programme is an initiative where our expert team of buyers supervises all procurement and quality-related activities at the origin. We began our Direct Procurement Programme in Ghana in 2005 by setting up our first purchasing centre in Sampa, a town in the Brong-Ahafo region bordering Côte d’Ivoire. This was followed by establishing additional purchasing centres, procurement and shipping infrastructures in Techiman located in East Bono Region, a leading market town in South Ghana and in Tema, the port city of Ghana.

Ghana's cashew production dropped 30% in 2024, with only 161,000 metric tonnes (177,000 tons) harvested. After producing 230,000 metric tonnes (253,000 tons) during the 2022-23 season, production fell sharply. Bad weather dealt a severe blow to cashew farmers.

Ghana processes only 6% of its raw cashew nuts locally, despite being a major cashew producer. The cashew industry directly supports nearly half a million Ghanaians who are involved in growing, trading, transporting, and processing these valuable nuts. This decline might eventually mean higher cashew prices in your favorite trail mix or plant-based meals. The industry represents an estimated untapped potential of over $660 million for Ghana's economy, per GhanaWeb.

By processing more nuts locally instead of exporting them raw, Ghana can create thousands of new jobs while capturing more value from this vital crop. Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire, two of Africa's largest cashew producers, joined forces in October to strengthen their position in the global market.

General Overview of Cashew Production

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) consists of the nut and peduncle. Separation of the nut from the apple results in two unique products. About 90% of the harvestable product from the cashew tree is lost through wasted cashew apples. In general, fresh cashew for consumption last for only 24 -48 hours at room temperature.

The complete development of cashew fruit (cashew nut + apple) from flowering to physiological maturity takes about 70 to 90 days. The cashew tree grows in tropical climates with an annual rainfall ranging from 400 to 4,000 mm, and it grows from sea level to an altitude of 1,000 m.

The Cashew is cultivated primarily in India, Vietnam, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Benin, Brazil and other countries in East and West Central Africa and South East Asia. Plantings have also been established in South Africa and Australia. World production of cashews currently ranges between 720,000 and 790,000 metric tons (kernel basis) per year (seasons 2015/16-2019/20).

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India, with 170,000-195,000 MT of annual production, ranks first, followed by Côte d’Ivoire, Vietnam and Tanzania averaging 149,000; 82,000 and 53,000 MT, respectively. World cashew production is growing at an average rate of 6% per annum, driven by the rapid expansion in West Africa with a growth rate of 9% a year.

West Africa has a rare blend of the tropical climate, deep soils, and availability of land. This combination creates an unmatched comparative advantage for West Africa to be the new frontier of expansion of the world’s cashew production.

Cashew Production Areas

The region of West Africa is the second-largest producer of cashew nuts, but it is also the region with the lowest processing capacity. According to the Cashew Industry Association of Ghana, there are over twelve (12) large and small-scale processing companies in the country, with over 27,000 mt installed processing capacity, 88 per cent of the nation's installed capacity is located in the Bono and Ahafo Regions.

The total processing capacity has increased to more than 60,000 mt as a result of the inclusion of Usibras in 2014, Brazil's largest processor, with its 35,000 mt plant. According to MoFA, cashew production in Ghana increased from 95,000 tonnes of Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) in 2017 to an estimated 160,000 tonnes in 2021.

During the same period, the area under cultivation increased from 98,000 ha to 223,020 ha with a sharp increase recorded between 2020 and 2021 (over 103,020 ha). The additional hectares are yet to yield fruits because they may be young.

According to the GEPA 2021 annual report, Ghana's cashew in shell has an estimated unrealised potential of more than US$660 million. In 2020, Ghana exported around US$ 251.4 million in raw cashew in shell. From 2016 to 2020, the Vietnamese market increased the value of Ghanaian cashew by 17%. Vietnam was the top destination for Ghanaian cashew nut exports in 2020, accounting for more than half (58.34%) of all cashew nut exports to the world.

In 2020, India was Ghana's second largest export destination for cashew nuts in shell (41.41%). China was the third largest importer of cashew nuts in shell. After Côte d'Ivoire and Cambodia, Ghana was the third largest supplier to Vietnam in 2020. Globally, import value of in-shell cashews declined averagely by -5% per annum from 2016 to 2020 from US$ 2.856 bn in 2019 to US$2.594 bn in 2020.

The only two countries that received significant amounts of cashew nuts in shell from Ghana are Vietnam and India. In both markets, Ghana is an important supplier, but there is room for growth.

More than 200,000 farmers are estimated to be directly engaged in cashew cultivating 234,171 ha producing about 230,000MT of RCN during the 2022/2023 season. They generate a chain of ancillary employment for about 200,000 people who work as buying agents, dealers, transporters, retailers, etc.

Cashew is grown as a smallholder crop in Ghana, and the commercial plantation sector is very small. It is estimated that about 88% of cashew farms are owned by smallholders, with farms ranging in size from a minimum of 0.8 ha to 3.0 ha. Large plantations account for 12% of cashew farms and are sized between 4 ha to 40 ha. Most of these producers rely on family labour or hired labour, especially for weeding and harvesting activities.

Since cashew is harvested during the lean season for all major staples (e.g. maize, yam, plantain, and millet), this crop can provide additional income for food purchases and contribute to increased food security.

Introducing AgriEase Ltd: Revolutionizing Cashew Farming in Ghana

Value Chain Mapping and Key Actors

The Cashew Value Chain Map and the above pictorial representation of the cashew value chain depict a number of interrelated functions, actors and service providers who together define its nature and flow channels. These include the supply of inputs, production, collection, processing, and export.

Several functional links and interrelationships can be identified by which cashew nuts and kernels flow from the producers through traders and processors to the domestic and international markets.

Value Chain Actors and Service Providers

Input Suppliers: Provide producers/farmers with specific inputs such as seedlings, pesticides, herbicides, fertilisers, processing equipment and packaging materials.
Farmers or Producers: Production is mostly carried out by smallholder farmers, who are usually organized into associations.
Processors: Value addition to cashews is mainly realised at the processing and packaging stage.
Exporters: These are few in number and operate mostly from the Bono and Ahafo Regions, as well as from marketing centres in other cashew growing areas of Ghana.
Haulers/Transporters: Their main function is to transport RCN from the production centres to Tema.
NGOs: Several Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are active in the agricultural sector, and in cashew production and marketing in particular.
Financial Institutions: They play a substantial role in the chain.

Key Agronomic Practices

Key Good Agronomic Practices and their Importance:

Good Agricultural Practice	Brief Description and Importance
Planting Material	Locally developed types from CRIG-Bole station and Wenchi Agric. Station include BE 079, BE 107, Tan II 393, Tan II 209, SG 185, SG 266, SG 276 and SG 265. Six other dwarf varieties introduced from Brazil: CP 1001,76, 09, 06, 50, 51, which are available at Dawadawa Farms.
Nursery Establishment	Graft nurseries can be established with supervision from MoFA or sourcing from CRIG.
Land Preparation	Clear land with zero burnings while digging trenches and clearing natural waterways.
Planting	Plant improved seedlings in deep, fertile and well-drained soils. Fill 50cm holes with organic matter and topsoil before planting. Mulch seedlings after transplanting.
Suitable Soils	Deep fertile and well-drained loamy soils.
Agro Climate Conditions	Sunny areas with rainfall amount between 890mm and 3,084 mm. Temperatures between 20 oC - 34 oC.
Pruning	Prune unwanted and diseased branches to increase flowering and fruiting.
Pests and Diseases Management	Use appropriate pesticides, thinning and pruning to control sucking pests, stem borers and anthracnose (Colletotrichum sp). Bacterial leaf spot disease is a big challenge in Ghana. Combine good sanitary measures, pruning, harvesting and application of pesticides to control it.
Soil Fertility Management	Apply organic manure (animal droppings) at planting time and under the base of trees to improve soil fertility and release of macro and micronutrients to the tree.
Weed Management	Clear weeds at shorter frequencies when trees are young. Use herbicides for matured trees to reduce competition for nutrients and water.
Harvest Management	To avoid heat damage, harvesting should be done when the temperatures are low, that is in the mornings and evenings.Clear harvesting paths manually and with the use of herbicides. Harvest by hand picking apples between January and June. Assemble and gather fallen ones what are clean and not diseased.
Post-Harvest practices	Separate Raw Cashew Nuts from apple with twine and dry RCN in the sun. Store properly to prevent mould and decay in jute sacks at moisture content of 8-10% under 1 year.

Key Risks Associated with Cashew Value Chain

Key Risks Along the Value Chain and Mitigation Measures:

Value Chain Actions	Key Risks and Challenges	Mitigation Measures
Input Supply	Land acquisition and tenure: Limited access to land for long term, large scale commercial farming is a hindrance to commercial production.	MoFA should lead a discussion on land tenure issues in cashew growing areas with all stakeholders. Demarcate and make available land banks for cashew farming.
Nursery and Planting Material	Availability and access to high yielding and disease-free planting material is also a big challenge. There is high mortality when rains delay or is erratic.	Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana in Bole, MoFA and private operators should invest in nurseries and production of vigorous cashew seedlings that are disease-free and training of private nurseries operators. Invest in technologies that allow seedlings to withstand drought when transplanted including irrigation.
Finance	Inadequate Access to Financial Capital: Cashew farmers and agents have complained over the years about the lack of credit for farm maintenance and expansion.	Financial Institutions need to train credit officers on cashew farming and the value chain and where opportunities exist.
Production	Farm Maintenance and practices: Diseases and Pests: Risk of insect sucking pest infestation such as Helopetis Sp, Anoplocnemis, stem borers (Apate telebrands) and anthracnose.	Improve extension delivery in the application of GAP, set up demonstration farms and support farmers to access spraying machines.
Climate/weather	The uncertainties in the climate situation - excessive rains, long spell of dry weather, high temperatures and humidity adversely affect production. Bush burning has been a bane over the years with young men looking for meat by hunting for bush animals. A long spell of drought and bush fires are perennial problems faced by farmers and the sector.	Invest in irrigation to prov...