The World Bank has decided on April 11 to grant a loan of 200 million dollars to Côte d’Ivoire as part of a project to promote the cashew nut sector. The aim is to help the authorities to increase the productivity and quality of the nuts and to promote the development of processing, the main weakness of the sector.
The country’s third largest export product ($ 800 million in exports) – after cocoa and refined petroleum products – with production of 711,000 tonnes in 2017, or 23% of world supply, cashew is a strategic product for the country.
“The cashew nut is one of the main sources of income for small farmers in Côte d’Ivoire (…). This sector concerns about 2 million people, mainly in the poorer north of the country, where it has become the main source of monetary income in rural areas, “explains Pierre Laporte, director of operations of the World Bank for Côte d’Ivoire. Ivory.
Overall, the project aims to improve the governance of the sector, to facilitate the access of nuts to the market and to improve the productivity of the farms. It also aims to support “private investment in post-harvest processing storage infrastructure to increase the volume and value-added of locally processed cashew nuts,” says the institution.
“By developing the cashew nut industry and further integrating it into world markets, this new project has great potential to create jobs in rural areas through agriculture and industrialization, which will help reduce poverty.” “, Argues Pierre Laporte.
The project will impact 225,000 producers and is expected to generate 12,000 jobs, 50% of which will benefit women, according to the World Bank.
Côte d’Ivoire, which is processing only 6% of its production, hopes to accelerate the pace to bring this level to 50% by 2020.
