The Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture has announced the minimum producer price for raw cashew nuts (RCN) in the Bono regional town of Wench.

Yaw Frimpong Addo called on players along the cashew value chain to respect the pricing regime. 

According to him, the standardised minimum producer price for raw cashew nuts for the 2022 crop season is pegged at ¢5 per kilogramme.

He stated, “if we say minimum price, it is a price that nobody can buy this product below but above, you can negotiate”.

Mr Frimpong Addo stated the minimum producer price for the commodity in Ghana comes after several sections of direct consultation with major actors within the agriculture subsector.

“The emphasis here is direct consultations with all relevant actors and stakeholders within the cashew value chain, so it is not an imposition of price from anywhere. It by consensus that this price is coming,” he added.

Chief Executive Officer for Tree Crop Development Authority (TCDA), Williams Quaitoo, said the formula for determining the minimum price for raw cashew nuts did not emanate from the authority.

He said the authority is committed to executing the mandate given by President Akuffo Addo to ensure the cashew and the other tree crops become a primary foreign exchange earner for Ghana.

“This is why since TCDA’s inauguration, we have relentlessly worked to reach where we are now,” Mr Quaitoo stressed.

For his part, President of the Cashew Traders and Exporters Association of Ghana (CTEAG), Alex Owusu Adjei, expressed satisfaction about the new minimum price of raw cashew nuts, adding, “it is a process and will improve as time passes”.

He encouraged cashew farmers to dry their cashew nut to achieve 10% or below moisture content before selling it to buyers.

Mr Owusu Adjei further challenged raw cashew nut merchants to show interest in cashew nuts that are not correctly dried to ensure international standards for the commodity.