Usually, Richard Waycott is focused on almonds – and nothing but. Which makes perfect sense because he is the Executive Director of the Almond Board of California. For more than 60 years the Board has helped its members make their product a leading snack for millions of people around the world.

But for two days in September, Waycott looked more closely at cashews as he participated in the 6th annual conference of the African Cashew Alliance.

“What’s an almond guy doing at a cashew conference?” he asked more than 350 participants in his keynote speech Sept. 20 in Banjul, The Gambia. “The answer is there is a great opportunity for us to share across the nut and dried fruit industries around the world. After many years of work, the stars are aligning for our industries.” 

The African Cashew Alliance’s sixth annual conference proved Waycott’s point several times over. The cashew industry is surging across Africa, pushed by fast-growing consumer demand. Just 10 years ago, Africa supplied perhaps 20% of world supply; today, by some measures, African cashew farmers account for almost half of the world harvest.

The conference drew nearly 400 people representing every aspect of the industry and from more than 30 countries. The implications are important, noted ACA President Idrisa Kilangi, who owns a processing facility in Tanzania.

“The cashew industry in Africa supports the livelihoods of more than 10 million people,” he told stakeholders in his address. “More than 1.8 million cashew farmers in Africa produce about 45%of the world’s raw cashew nuts. We are here now to see how we help these small farmers.”

“Recent developments are promising and show the cashew industry’s potential to revolutionize the agriculture sector in Africa,” Abdou Colley, Gambia’s Minister of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment, told industry stakeholders. “ It has given us renewed hope in our fight against poverty.”

All around the conference – over dinner, at cocktail hour and coffee breaks – stakeholders were discussing opportunities that ultimately would do exactly that. Their discussions allowed them to: 

• Assess the current state of the industry. Cashew is in high demand around the world – and that demand will only increase, speakers told stakeholders. The world is turning to Africa because – among other things – of the potential to grow production. In other cashew-producing countries, yield per tree is much higher – achieving gains will be more difficult there. Meanwhile, consumer demand in emerging markets – Brazil, China and India – is only growing, they said.

• Increase farmers’ incomes. The African Cashew Initiative, launched in 2009 with a $25 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and equal matching support from the industry, has achieved its primary objectives, seeing farmer incomes rise in its five target countries. Its equipment survey was a big hit with cashew processors at the conference, too. More innovations are coming, said the ACI Executive Director Rita Weidinger: Farmers will be planting higher-yielding trees based on genetic research, which would lead to a “revolution” in production, she said.

• Source equipment. At the world’s first Cashew Equipment Expo, a $20,000 machine could produce 300 kg of peeled cashew kernels an hour and another could split the nuts’ shells with a swift downward thrust of a sharp blade. “I’ve met more than 100 interested buyers and we will sign deals to sell at least 15 machines before I leave,” said John Nguyen of Cao Thanh Phat Manufacture and Trading Co. Nguyen had shipped equipment from Vietnam to The Gambia for the expo. A Technoserve/ACi study on equipment was presented at the expo, too. “So many people have lost money because they entered the sector without the proper equipment,” said Georgette Taraff, a processing company manager in Benin. “Now we have a study that shows what is available on the market with all the contact information in order to obtain this equipment. The exhibition is an excellent innovation and we must encourage ACA for this work.” 

• Improve food safety and quality. The ACA launched the ACA Seal, which may be the most important development the industry has ever seen. “The seal is the ticket to the party,” Chris Nubern of Kraft Foods said. “If you want to sell cashews in the global market palce you can’t come knocking without some sort of quality-based program that has merit behind it. That’s what the seal really represents.” David Rosenblatt of the Richard Franco Agency, one of the world’s largest cashew brokers, was equally emphatic. “We feel that it’s important as international brokers to support any effort which is being made anywhere in the world to improve the product and to improve the viability of the producer. The customer needs to feel confident that when he buys a product it has a high probability of meeting the standards and if he has problems that they can be addressed.”

• Do more business. Processors, farmer cooperatives, traders, retailers, financiers and transport and logistics providers met face-to-face during more than 300 separate meetings to discuss business. “The main value of the conference is to be able to get to know the individual stakeholders,” said Christian Merz of SAP Business Software. “I’ve talked to stakeholders ranging from farmers cooperatives to exporters to logistics providers , retailers and that is most important to us because we’re newcomers to the industry and we need to understand what our potential customers really need.”

• Address key issues affecting the industry. Stakeholders discussed how to increase tree yields, how to build the alliance’s national chapters across the continent and how to obtain finance at competitive rates, among other issues, during numerous workshops. Renata Clarke of the U.N.’s Food and Agricultural Organization said the conference demonstrated the ACA’s central role in the industry’s development. As the FAO responds to country requests for assistance in developing cashew, the organization will work with the ACA, she said. “The ACA will be a major interlocutor in the discussion because they obviously have the broad picture not only of the production situation but also of what the major buyers are expecting.”

Unsurprisingly, robust consumer demand is continuing to drive the cashew industry, said Arie Endendijik of Intersnack, the largest maker of snack products in Europe, in a presentation to the conference. Quality, value for money, taste and excitement are key aspects of that demand.

Despite higher prices for consumers, Endendijik and others at the conference were optimistic for the industry. Chris Nubern of Kraft Foods, the world’s largest food company, said the ACA was a key reason for that optimism.

“Frankly, the ACA is still young, it’s not grown up yet,” Nubern told stakeholders. “If you look at other industry associations, like the California Almond Board, you’ll see they came up with a vision on how to succeed.

“We’re at a crossroads now with the ACA” to develop that vision, he continued. “And the seal program is going to help us get there.”