Ivory Coast cashew nut output rose 14 percent to 560,000 tonnes in 2014 from the previous year, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, in line with its aim to become the world’s top producer in the coming years.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Just a decade ago, Ivory Coast, which is the world’s top cocoa grower, was a middling cashew producer, growing around 80,000 tonnes of raw nuts per year.
With output growing by over 10 percent annually, the sector has attracted the attention of a government desperate to jump-start its economy after a decade of war and political chaos.
“That places Ivory Coast in second place after India,” Bruno Kone told reporters after a cabinet meeting in the commercial capital Abidjan, referring to last year’s cashew crop output.
Kone said that the quality of Ivorian cashews had improved due to a government reform that set a minimum price for farmers.
He said farmers received a total of 127 billion CFA francs ($219 million) for their cashews last season.
“The official opening of the 2015 cashew season is tomorrow and the guaranteed minimum price is 275 CFA francs ($0.48) per kilogramme,” he said.
The price during the previous season was 225 CFA francs/kg.
($1 = 577.4800 CFA francs)