A six-month project to build the capacity of smallholder cashew farmers on harvest and post-harvest losses including nut quality in the West Gonja municipality of the Savannah Region by Green for Change Ghana in partnership with USAID through its funded Feed the Future Ghana Trade and Investment (GTI) Activity, has ended.
The project was implemented across six communities namely Soalepe, Bunyanto, Achubunyor, Jonokponto, Taliorpe, and Busunu, all in the West Gonja municipality.
Speaking to the media at the End of Project Evaluation Workshop in Damongo, Executive Director of Green for Change Ghana John Balankoo Sumbo said over 600 farmers benefited directly and indirectly from the training on post-harvest management, effective negotiation and marketing, and best cashew production techniques.
“About 2,645 seedlings of different species including cashew, Mango, Baoba, Kapok, Mahogany, and Cassia with over 60% being cashews were distributed to farmers in collaboration with the Forest Service Division and World Vision Ghana.”
Mr. Sumbo disclosed that throughout the project they learned that the lead farmer approach was a very good module for empowering grassroots structures and deepening sustainability.
“The farmers were excited about the training especially accessing the quality of their nuts so that they can have quality bits to sell at a premium price because these days buyers buy based on quality.
“Interest in cashew cultivation particularly for youth groups is high and this could be leveraged to reduce youth employment in the area and so all we need to do is to create opportunities for processing of raw cashew nut (RCN) into furnished or semi-finished products for both local and international markets.”
He urged farmers to continue to adopt the practices they have learned for sustainability purposes.
A representative from the Department of Agric at the West Gonja Municipal Assembly, Ezekiel Akwasi Gariba, said the training was very timely for the development of farmers in the municipality.
He noted that the buyers of cashew nuts normally buy the nuts at cheaper prices because the farmers are ignorant about how to determine the quality of the cashew nut.
“The buyers normally claim that the nuts produced from here and the north are always of low quality and the farmers do not have knowledge about the quality of the nuts and because of poverty the farmers sell their nuts for low prices with the training farmers have been taught how to determine the quality of a cashew nut and the farmers were very appreciative because they had no knowledge of how to determine quality cashew nut so they can now get good prices for the cashew nuts.”
Alidu Shahadu, who spoke on behalf of the cashew farmers, thanked Green for Change Ghana for the training, adding that it will go a long way to enhance their farming activities and productivity.