By Dennis Peprah, GNA
Sampa, (Bono), May 20, GNA – About 100 cashew farmers selected from cashew growing communities in the Bono Region have been trained on processing and to add value to raw apple and to enhance their socio-economic livelihoods.
The beneficiaries, drawn from the Jaman North, Tain and Banda districts as well as the Jaman South Municipality of the region were taken through processing cashew apple into juice, preservation, as well as packaging.
They were also enlightened on marketing strategies, networking, and other entrepreneurship opportunities in the cashew value chain and reducing post-harvest losses.
Organised by the Cashew Watch Ghana (CWG), an advocacy group helping to emerging address challenges in the cashew sector, the day’s training held at Sampa, forms part of the implementation of the CWG’s “Amplifying the Voices of Cashew Farmers Project – Phase Two”, project.
The STAR-Ghana Foundation is funding the implementation of the project to strengthen advocacy, improve farmer participation in policy discussions, and promote sustainable development within the nation’s cashew growing sector.
Addressing the opening session of the training, Mr Simon Asore, the Functional Steering Committee Chairperson of the CWG explained that the training was a broader effort to transform the cashew sector.
Empowering the cashew farmers with requisite knowledge on value addition and sustainable utilization of cashew resources would enable them to derive the optimum benefit from the cashew tree.
He noted that for many years, the cashew apple had largely been left to go waste in many cashew growing communities in the country, despite its nutritional and commercial value.
“Farmers often focus only on the nut while large quantities of the cashew fruits rot during harvesting seasons”, he noted.
Mr Asore said that the CWG was collaborating with stakeholders in the sector to promote innovation, improve processing capacity, and create alternative income streams for farmers, especially women and youth in cashew-growing communities.
He said that adding value to cashew raw cashew would not only reduce waste, but also enhance household incomes, create job opportunities, and thereby strengthen local economies.
Mr Asore emphasized that the nation’s cashew sector had enormous and untapped potential beyond the export of raw nuts, and stressed the need for the country to invest heavily in cashew processing.
“So, through the training cashew farmers to understand that every part of the cashew tree has economic value and benefit and to generate additional income for families and communities”, he stated.
Mr Asore said empowering the farmers with processing skills would build resilience against fluctuating market prices, and thereby improve economic sustainability within the sector.
Some of the beneficiaries expressed their appreciation to CWG and the STAR-Ghana Foundation, describing the training as insightful, timely and beneficial and pledged their dedication to go back and apply the knowledge they had acquired to better their lot.
Others also called for continuous technical support, processing machines and equipment as well as accessing ready markets.
GNA
Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Dennis Peprah
[email protected]