"The work that still needs to be done is less than what we have accomplished already, I am certain we will reach the next level," said El Hadji Mamadou Bary of SOPELGUI, after he signed up his company for the ACA Quality and Sustainability Seal Program.
SOPELGUI is Guinea’s first cashew processor. The Indian-Guinean joint venture began operating in 2012 and has since exported the first cashew kernels from Guinea, most of which to an ACA founding member based in the US.
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Guinean cashew farmers, processors and traders have joined forces to develop the potential of the cashew industry for the country’s economy. On February 25, 2013, the Guinean Cashew Alliance (l'Alliance Guinéenne de l'Anacarde) was launched in Conakry at an event attended by more than 50 participants from industry and government. With a growing production and processing industry, cashew contributes to the incomes of 50,000-80,000 people in rural Guinea.
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The ACA Quality & Sustainability Seal is an industry-supported mark that signals the processor’s compliance with international food safety, quality, and labor standards. The expanding implementation of the ACA Seal in East and West Africa indicates the program’s success across ACA member countries. Six processors in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo and Tanzania signed up for the program in 2012, bringing the Seal processing capacity to 18-25,500MT of RCN. Check out the map below to see the members of the ACA Seal program:
International food safety regulations are beginning to require serious consideration by exporters of food to the United States. New regulations will have concrete impacts on cashew farmers, processors, and buyers, as the United States moves to enforce the new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, the most expansive reform of food safety laws in over 70 years. On January 4, 2013 The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced major proposed regulations of the FSMA, which was passed in January 2011 by President Barack Obama. They contain preventative controls that pertain to good...
Pick, pull, plop. Pick, pull, plop. This is the sound of cashew nuts being plucked from fallen apples scattering the ground of Mim Cashew. Margaret and Fusenia sit in the dappled shade under one of thousands of cashew trees on the farm, beginning the process that will eventually result in ACA Seal-certified cashew reaching international marketplaces.
Producing export-...
ACi trained farmers have discovered a new way to increase their income.
With working to increase farmer income within the cashew sectors of its 5 project countries, remaining one of the key aims of the African Cashew initiative, recognition of a new, lucrative venture for cashew farmers is exciting and promising.
For a growing number of entrepreneurial farmers in Benin and Ghana, keeping bees on their cashew...
Benin is the world’s 9th largest producer of cashew in the world, but the country is still underrepresented on the global cashew market. The Benin exporter’s association, the National Council of Benin Cashew Exporters (CoNEC) is working to change this, and has made significant progress toward gaining international recognition and attracting business through the website for their organization, launched in January.
The creation of this new website will help outsiders recognize the potential for economic development...
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This month, AfricasheW320 features a world economic report from Beacon Economics. Chris Thornberg, founder of Beacon Economics, presented during the plenary session at the 7th ACA Annual Conference in Benin, where he discussed cashew in a global economic setting. Beacon's Newsletter contribution, which will be featured again in June, highlights Africa's place in the global economy while also focusing on import and export trends for agricultural commodities.
Africa’s regional economy performed better than global trends in 2011, but Africa’s trade with major economies in 2012...
As it prepares to host the 2013 ACA World Cashew Festival & Expo, Nigeria is positioning itself to reap the full impact of the cashew business.
“Nigeria has all the possibilities to become one of the next cashew-superpowers”, stated National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) President Tola Faseru, also an ACA Executive Committee Member, at the second National Cashew Stakeholder Forum in Lagos, Nigeria from 30-31 January, 2013. The conference, was attended by more than 200 cashew farmers, processors and traders, including ACA President Georgette Taraf and MD Christian...
