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0 Cashew farmers in Bono Region have called on the government to expedite action for the establishment of the Cashew Development Board, as promised.
They reminded President John Dramani Mahama to fulfil his Election 2024 campaign promise of setting up the Board to regulate the sector, improve pricing regime that enhance the socio-economic livelihood of cashew farmers.
Mr Daniel Kofi Munufie, the Interim Chairman of Bono Cashew Farmers’ Cooperative Union, made the call, stressing that the nation’s cashew industry had huge potential for job creation, poverty reduction, and export diversification.
He was speaking at a day’s advocacy training workshop for cashew farmers at Drobo in the Jaman South Municipality of the Bono Region.
The Cashew Watch Ghana (CWG), a civil society organisation organised the workshop under the implementation of its “Amplifying the Voices of Cashew Farmers” project, being funded by the STAR-Ghana Foundation.
Mr Munufie said the cashew sector required the board to provide strategic direction, policy coordination, and institutional support needed to transform the sector into a major economic driver.
He said the cashew sector remained one of the nation’s leading non-traditional export earners and therefore required the board to tackle the emerging challenges affecting farmers and their economic activities.
The Cashew Development Board is needed to strengthen quality control and export standards, promote local processing and value addition, as well as facilitate access to credit and farm inputs, and accelerate government interventions in cashew-growing communities
Mr Munufie mentioned unstable and low farmgate prices, limited access to affordable credit, inadequate extension services, poor road networks, exploitation by middlemen and lack of clear regulatory framework as some of the major challenges were impeding the growth of the sector.
Mr Simon Asore, the Functional Steering Committee Chairperson of CWG, advised the farmers to be formidable in engaging policymakers to demand accountability and reforms in the sector.
He said the training was at equipping them with the requisite advocacy skills for active policy engagement, negotiation, and stakeholder dialogue and to amplify their voices at the national level.
Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the National Coordinator of the CWG, reiterated their commitment to support cashew sector initiatives and to promote transparency, inclusive governance, and citizen participation in economic policy discussions.
