Investment in cashew’ll lift 100m Nigerians out of poverty, says Edime

Okwe Obi, Abuja

President, Association of Cashew Farmers, Aggregators and Processors of Nigeria (ACFAP), Edime Unekwuojo, has claimed that sufficient investment in cashew processing for export is capable of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.

Udime who stated this at the cashew stakeholders/export summit at the weekend in Abuja, lamented that Nigeria currently gets little from the enormous potential in cashew as an economic growth driver and as a veritable tool for job creation and livelihood improvement.

“In furtherance of the policy direction and the resolve of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty through job creation and economic diversification of the zero oil plan, we of ACFAP believe that cashew is critical and important to the achievement of this initiative of government.

“Therefore, there is the need to look into the future with a sense of urgency and patriotism. There is also urgent need for Nigeria to brace up, wake up and understand that we need to start earning significantly from the cashew industry through export and we must not subject our farmers to the dictates of others.

“As an association, we will continue to make reasonable demand for greater results and impact for more development and better quality of life for our farmers (primary producers) and the need for value addition at cottage level to enhance job creation. We are therefore seeking your support for the implementation of a strong Cashew Value Chain Development programme entrenched in transparent transactions to the benefit of all parties.”