Cashew Trade Set To Revamp In Kilifi
Kilifi Governor Gideon Mung'aro together with Nuts during a courtesy call visit to the cashew industry.
The Nuts and More Export Processing Zones factory is aimed at bringing back the long lost story of cashew nut farming and its production in Kilifi.
In its heydays, the crop was literally the goldmine for thousands of farmers. They collected cash with their sales at the now defunctional Kenya Cashew Nut Factory. Then, business was booming and the cashew nut business was the best at its prime. Politics and mismanagement crept in and the once booming Kenya Cashew nut Limited became a shadow of its former self.
The Nuts and More EPZ factory at Vipingo centum land has revived the hopes of cashew nut farmers.
The firm which has already started its production is targeting above seven metric tonnes of raw nuts per year.
The company CEO Thomas Haffarer said Kilifi has the best quality of cashew nuts along the Coastal line compared to other counties of Lamu, Kwale and parts of Mombasa.
“We started these plans of opening up the factory back in 2019 and by mid last year, we had gone into fully operational giving farmers an opportunity to enjoy their produce,” he said.
The CEO said that though they are situated in Kilifi, they are forced to source raw materials from the neighboring Lamu county following the scarcity of the commodity.
” This investment is benefiting farmers who don’t have a defined market for their produce”
He however said that they are slowly getting into several partnerships with different interested business players and even the county governments to ensure a good and beneficial working environment is reached.
During his tour to the plant ,Kilifi Governor Mung’aro said it was a big opportunity for farmers and the county government to benefit from the long awaited factory within the vicinity.
Mr Mung’aro said according to their evaluation already they have understood that farmers can benefit about one million Kenyan shillings in an acre of cashew nut farm every year and make to take care of their financial issues
” We are committed to sensitize farmers to go back in large numbers to planting of cashew nut trees so that they can have a big supply of the commodity for cash,we will also start a seed subsidy program to distribute them to farmers”he said.
According to the agricultural experts in the region on reviving the cashew nut industry, the Ministry of Agriculture needs to start a cashew nut enhancement productivity programme which should entail a minimum of two million seedlings planted yearly, training of commercial tree nursery growers who will distribute seedlings to farmers at subsidized prices.
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