The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) says Ghana’s cashew industry has the potential to generate more than US$660 million in annual revenue if key challenges across the value chain are addressed and local processing is significantly expanded.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of TCDA, Dr. Andy Osei Okrah, the projection reflects the vast opportunities in the sector, which currently earns the country about US$300 million a year, largely from the export of raw cashew nuts. He made the disclosure during a stakeholder engagement in the Bono Region, one of Ghana’s major cashew-growing zones.
Dr. Osei Okrah explained that despite the strong global demand for cashew, Ghana continues to lose substantial value because over 90 per cent of its production is exported in raw form, with minimal local processing. This, he noted, limits foreign exchange earnings, job creation, and the development of agro-industrial capacity.
He identified weak regulation, inconsistent pricing, limited access to finance, and inadequate processing infrastructure as major constraints holding back the industry. The absence of a structured pricing system, in particular, has often exposed farmers to market volatility and unfair pricing practices.
To unlock the sector’s full potential, the TCDA is working to strengthen regulation and enforce licensing across the cashew value chain, from aggregators and buyers to processors and exporters. The Authority is also developing a national pricing framework aimed at ensuring transparency and fair farm-gate prices for producers.
In addition, efforts are being intensified to attract investment into local processing facilities, with the goal of increasing the proportion of cashew that is processed domestically into kernels and other value-added products for export.
The cashew industry currently supports an estimated 300,000 farmers and provides livelihoods for about 200,000 people involved in trading, transport, and processing, mainly in the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo and Northern regions.
TCDA stressed that strengthening the cashew sector forms part of government’s broader Tree Crops Development Agenda, which seeks to diversify Ghana’s agricultural exports beyond cocoa and position crops such as cashew as major drivers of industrial growth, rural employment and foreign exchange earnings.
