U.S. Ambassador’s Visit Celebrates West African Cashew as a Cash Crop

With significant health benefits and a delicious creamy taste, cashews are enjoyed around the world. It’s a happy coincidence that “cashew” contains the word “cash.” The fruit of the Anacardium occidentale is a $12 billion global industry. For decades, TechnoServe has worked with small-scale farmers and processors in regions like West Africa to ensure farmers and communities earn more money from growing, processing, and exporting this fruit.

West Africa produces 45% of the world’s raw cashew nuts, and Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s top cashew producer. According to Reuters, cashew output from Côte d’Ivoire is expected to hit a record high of 1.25 million tonnes this year. Unfortunately, less than 7% of cashew gets processed where it is harvested.

With significant health benefits and a delicious creamy taste, cashews are enjoyed around the world. It’s a happy coincidence that “cashew” contains the word “cash.” The fruit of the Anacardium occidentale is a $12 billion global industry. For decades, TechnoServe has worked with small-scale farmers and processors in regions like West Africa to ensure farmers and communities earn more money from growing, processing, and exporting this fruit.

West Africa produces 45% of the world’s raw cashew nuts, and Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s top cashew producer. According to Reuters, cashew output from Côte d’Ivoire is expected to hit a record high of 1.25 million tonnes this year. Unfortunately, less than 7% of cashew gets processed where it is harvested.

TechnoServe’s Prosper Cashew project is working to change that.

In September, TechnoServe’s Prosper Cashew was honored to host Her Excellency Jessica Davis Ba, the United States of America’s Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire. Ambassador Davis Ba learned about our USDA-funded project and toured the Dorado Ivory processing factory to get a first-hand look at improvements to the cashew value chain.

Ambassador Davis Ba (right) on a guided tour of Dorado Ivory’s processing plant with Chairman Venkatesan Rajkumar (left) and other staff.  

Prosper Cashew is working to build partnerships, bringing together processors and other supply-chain actors, investors, and the public sector to keep the economic and social value of the cashew at its source–in West Africa.

“Our team appreciated Ambassador Davis Ba’s interest in West Africa’s bid to become a leading supply source for premium, single-origin cashews for the U.S. market and beyond,” said Dorado Ivory’s Chairman Venkatesan Rajkumar. “We thank Prosper Cashew for promoting Ivorian cashew quality and standards, and supporting our marketing efforts.”

Workers sort cashew at the Dorado Ivory factory.  Extracting cashew from its shell, which contains a harsh toxin, is a laborious process. The nuts are roasted or boiled, packaged, and shipped around the world.

Prosper Cashew is on track to help create more than 4,500 new jobs with at least 50% for women. The project will facilitate $61 million of investment in the cashew sector and support processors to sell more than $200 million of cashew products into domestic, regional, and international markets.

A truck festooned with celebratory balloons leaves Dorado’s processing factory with cheerful waves from Ambassador Davis Ba and other well-wishers. Processing nuts locally into marketable kernels benefits smallholder farmers and processors. 

During her visit, Ambassador Davis Ba, Dorado staff, and Prosper Cashew Chief of Party Krishanu Chakravarty sent off the 1000th shipment of cashews bound for New York. North America is the fastest-growing market for cashews. Prosper Cashew plans to run a consumer campaign in the U.S. to promote cashews from West Africa.

Ambassador Davis Ba (center) with the TechnoServe team (l-r: Valentin Atchaoue, Tifuntoh Konde, Fayelle Ounae, Larry Umunna, Krishanu Chakravarty, Sarah El Ouadili, PC Das) and Sarata Toure of SITA at TechnoServe’s office after the strategy session. 

Prosper Cashew is a five-year project funded by the USDA Food for Progress program. It is active in Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Ghana. In a strategy session with the ambassador, Krishanu shared the project’s biggest successes and challenges.

“It was an honor to host Ambassador Jessica Davis Ba and demonstrate how Prosper Cashew is working to transform the cashew industry sustainably through a localized, regenerative approach,” he said. “We are proud to have the trust and support of the U.S. government on this project, which is well on its way to creating a better future for the people and communities. We look forward to the guidance and support of USDA’s Food for Progress program as we move from here and build a legacy of transformative change in the West African cashew industry.”

All smiles (from l-r) Larry Umunna, Krishna Chakravarty, Satara Toure and Ambassador Davis Ba.

Ambassador Davis Ba reaffirmed the United States’ support of the West African cashew processing industry and shared her satisfaction regarding the encouraging results.

“On behalf of the American people, it is really an honor to see how our investments in the cashew industry empower beneficiaries in creating new jobs that improve the quality of life for those in the communities,” notes Ambassador Davis Ba. “I was thrilled to discuss Prosper Cashew’s impact on the communities and their livelihood, along with matters related to environmental sustainability in the local cashew industry.”

Cashew for the future

Prosper Cashew is proud to contribute to a thriving and sustainable West African cashew industry. Our work is set to continue through 2025 to strengthen and revive existing processing facilities, improve access to funds, demonstrate the business case for additional investment flows into the sector, and bring together investors and high-quality investees.

(All photos TechnoServe / Gakpa Marlyse Carrol)

Learn more TechnoServe’s cashew business solutions to end poverty:

• • Here’s why we support small-scale cashew farmers, local workers and businesses
  • 5 Reasons Why Nuts Are a Secret Weapon in the Fight Against Poverty
  • See and share our first-ever U.S. TV campaign where we *literally* talk cashew