The Member of Parliament for Techiman North, Elizabeth OfosuAdjare, has urged government to as a matter of urgency open offices of the Tree Crop Development Authority to regulate the price of cashew in line with the Tree Crop Development Act, 2019.
Per the Act, the Authority, with the mandate to oversee the development of policies and programmes to regulate the pricing and marketing of tree crops such as cashew, is to have offices in the regions.
In a statement on the floor of Parliament in Accra on Thursday, Mrs Adjare, a former tourism minister, said the absence of the unregulated pricing regime in the cashew value chain was affecting the industry and players.
“Mr Speaker, the Board has been constituted, yet cashew price remains unregulated. The Authority is not present in the regions as required by the Act. As a result, cashew farmers, traders, buyers, exporters and processors are still grappling with price volatility in the industry.
“Mr Speaker, this is not healthy for the development of the cashew industry in Ghana,” she said.
According to her, price volatility in the industry has been a major concern to rural cashew farmers which needs urgent attention.
“Mr Speaker, if the Authority does not act swiftly on the conundrum surrounding the cashew pricing, it may disincentivise farmers to further expand its cultivation.”
The importance of cashew to the economy, she said, has become more critical with estimation by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority that there is an untapped potential of US$600 million in the cashew sector alone.
With about one million people engaged in the cashew value chain, 17,624.8 hectares of land in her constituency is cashew cultivated as it produced 54,405.45 metric tonnes per annum.
“Mr Speaker, it is therefore important for the Board to expedite action to ensure the presence of the Authority in the regions and develop modalities for the pricing of this all-important product,” she entreated.
Efforts, Mrs Adjare said, should be made in the medium term to encourage value addition to cashew nuts before their export to help the country to retain a greater proportion of the value created in the global cashew market.
“Mr Speaker, value addition in the Ghanaian cashew sector holds the potential for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through job creation, poverty reduction and rural development.
Mr Speaker, the time to act is now. As a country making every effort to consolidate our gains to sustain our middle income status, it is incumbent on us to take advantage of the prospect we have.
“I therefore pray the august House to urge government to as matter of urgency constitute regional offices to oversee the progress of the cashew industry, for employment generation and expansion of the economy for the development of mother Ghana.”
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI