Cashew farmers in the Bono and Bono East Regions have once again called on government to come to their aid to help them increase productivity as well as regulate pricing to ensure fair trade.
The call for help to government was reiterated during a donation ceremony. Red River Foods Ghana Limited, an American company, gave about two thousand and fifty cashew farmers from 21 communities bonus packages for the 2020 purchase season.
Cashew after earning the country $2.8 billion in 2018 compared to 2.5 billion in 2017, it has become Ghana’s highest Non-Traditional Export.
In spite of its contribution to the economy, the cashew sector, just like other agricultural sectors, face many challenges including lack of incentives for farmers and the absence of a regulator to ensure fair pricing.
Due to these challenges faced by the sector, the Red River Foods Ghana Limited established a bonus package and other interventions for cashew farmers who sell their products to them, three years ago.
The company buys the cashew beans for export and processing in other countries. Red River Foods bought one tonne of cashew beans from the farmers at GH 500 cedis.
Wayne Tilton, the Director of Operations of Red River Foods in Africa in an interview said,
“The company has been in business for over forty years now. We are one of the largest importers of cashew kernels into the US, and we understand it is in West Africa that the cashew is grown. So, want to build a sustainability in the communities that we work with. We have been working with farmers, I started in 2011 and we have offices in Ghana, Benin and Ivory Coast. We want to make ensure that the farmers are getting the best pricing they can, so in addition to paying them the farm gate price, we want to give them incentives. We are paying them 50 pesewas per kilo, we are paying them in the non-cashew season, so we are paying them in July, and July is when they need the money the most because the cashew money has run out.”
Some of the recipient cashew farmers though grateful for the company’s support, still called on government to support them to increase their yield.
Kwame George, a cashew farmer at Bonkwae in the Techiman Municipality said,
“Some time ago we used to sell the cashew to individuals, and after that they do not give us anything. But with Red River, every year they pay us bonus of two months after we have sold our beans to them. We use the bonus to weed our farms. Previously we could not weed our farms, now, we are able to get five thousand, four thousand and three thousand cedis, and it has really helped us.”
“The bonus has helped us in many ways. We use it to clear our farms. I am calling on government to support us to expand our farms. Though Red River has helped we would need government’s help too.”
Seth Frimpong, another cashew farmer
Aside the bonus packages paid to the farmers, they also prune the cashew trees for free.
As part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, it has donated Veronica Buckets and nose masks to farmer cooperatives in Agosa, Bonkwae and Nkwaeso.
