Farmforte tackles capital flight with 5400MT cashew facility

A firm, Farmforte Agro & Allied Solutions Limited, at the weekend, said it would reduce capital flight and deepen market access for over 112,000 smallholder farmers within the agriculture value chain with the inauguration of its new cashew processing facility in Benin City, the Edo State capital.

According to reports, the global cashew kernel market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.27 per cent to reach $6.732billion by 2025 up from $5.394billion it was two years ago.

Despite being one of the largest producers of cashew, Nigeria is yet to tap into the economic value that can be derived from locally processed cashew nuts.

Currently, raw cashews are being exported and processed into cashew nuts by foreign countries then sold to Europe and back to Nigeria thus encouraging capital flight.

Farmforte said it is working to change this challenge.

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Co-Chief Executive Officer of Farmforte, Uyi Osayimwense, said quality was a major factor in the company’s operations. “At Farmforte, we are reinventing Nigeria’s cashew industry by investing in a state-of-the-art processing plant that can process large amounts of cashew at export standard. Presently, we source raw cashew from local smallholder farmers and make sure Kernel out-turn ratio (KOR) is 49 and upwards to ensure maximum quality,” he said.

The facility was inaugurated by the state governor, Godwin Obaseki, with Sen Matthew Urhoghiye and other guests in attendance.

The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery with a production capacity of 24MT per day that will provide jobs and enterprise opportunities for the youths and people of Edo State.

Speaking on the facility, Farmforte’s Co-Chief Executive Officer, Osazuwa Osayi, said the new processing facility aligned with the company’s long-term commitment to continuously create sustainable outcomes in the agri-value chain. “We believe that this facility will enable us to increase cashew nut processing capacity and export less raw commodity; thereby increasing Nigeria’s access to the global market, ” he said.

Governor Obaseki pledged his government’s unwavering support to the private sector to create more jobs, expand into new markets and reduce risk.

He said with the new facility, Farmforte is adding value and encouraging farmers to increase the harvesting of cashew nuts and fruits, enabling the state to become the number one cashew producer in the country.

The facility includes machines that will carry out various processes from cleaning of raw cashew nuts to the packaging of edible cashew nuts (kernels).

“In our efforts to be a zero-waste company, we are setting up a Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) processing facility. CNSL is a versatile raw material for the production of paints and varnishes, laminating resins, rubber compounding resins and cashew cements,” he added.

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