Cashew Production Research Articles

Perception of Job-Seeking Graduates in Oyo State Nigeria to Cashew Production

Cashew is an important and commercially grown cash crop in Oyo state and Nigeria generally for its apple and most importantly the nuts. Cashew cultivation in recent years has experienced a yield decline due to few cashew farmers involved and moribund cashew trees. This paper aims to understand the perception of job-seeking graduates in Oyo state to cashew production and proffer recommendations that will help in promoting their participation. Some selected areas were considered in Oyo state and data were collected using a questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics of the respondent, awareness on cashew tree and its importance, opinion of respondents to cashew farming, perception of respondents to money-making opportunities in cashew production and categorization of the respondents based on their level of perception. 270 respondents were considered in the survey. Data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package. Results showed that 45.5% of the unemployed graduates were between the ages of 30-34 years. The study also showed that 90.7% know the economic importance of cashew while 89.3% know cashew farming as profitable. Farming ventures interest 73.3% of the unemployed graduates while 66.7% would want to venture into cashew farming. 52.2% of the job-seeking graduates had a favourable level of perception about cashew production. The perception of the job-seeking graduates is satisfactory as the favourability of their level of perception to cashew production is a little above average. Feasible loans or grants should be made available and easily accessible to job-seeking graduates to promote their involvement in cashew farming.

A Case Study of Cashew Industry in Karnataka

Purpose: In the Indian food processing sector, the cashew nut processing industry plays a critical role. Often, the cashew is considered as ‘both a poor person’s crop and a rich person’s meal.’ From the cultivators, traders, wholesalers, processors to supermarkets and retailers, the cashew processing sector is a vital source of income. Cashew processing is a labour-intensive sector that has always employed a significant number of rural women. The purpose of this study is to gain an in-depth understanding of the Cashew Processing Sector, its position in the world market, issues it is confronting and future prospects. While doing so, the present study attempts to examine the profile of the Indian Cashew Industry, including cashew processing and international trade. The quality, flavour and appearance of the Indian cashew kernels are highly respected in other nations and are consumed in more than 60 countries worldwide. Unfortunately, it was found that cashew production in India has been fluctuating in recent years. Despite its tremendous expansion, India’s cashew sector has been affected by low-quality cashew cultivated in some regions, which is mostly due to improper harvesting techniques, inadequate drying of the nuts and insufficient storage and warehouse facilities for dried cashew nuts. Design: For the purpose of analysis, this study used secondary data sources - Google Scholar articles, cashew industry and other related websites. Moreover, the literature is used to analyse the position of the industry within SWOC and PESTLE framework analysis. Findings: Based on the analysis, the cashew business needs certain incentives to attain a better rate of production and export growth in the future. Value: This paper emphases on the growth of the cashew industry in India in relation to its current status and future opportunities. Based on findings and their interpretation, the Indian Cashew Industry must prepare itself for the ever-increasing demand of the domestic market and contribute more effectively to the country’s economic growth. Paper Type: Case Study-based Research Analysis

Fungal Pathogens Associated with Damping-off Disease of Cashew Seedlings in Nigeria

Aim: This study was designed to isolate fungal pathogens associated with damping-off of cashew seedlings.
 Study Design: The cashew seedlings for this study were selected randomly from a number of infected cashew seedlings in the screen house.
 Methodology: Associated fungal pathogens were grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and identified using their characteristics and morphological features observed under the microscope with reference to published identification manuals.
 Results: The result showed that damping-off of cashew seedling is mostly associated with fungal pathogens such as such as Fusarium spp, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Pythium spp., Alternaria sp., Curvularia sp., Aspergillus niger, and Lasiodiplodia theobromae. However, Fusarium spp, and Pythium spp. were predominant and frequently isolated than other pathogens.
 Conclusion: The knowledge of these pathogens is important for designing strategies to safeguard cashew plant health against diseases in order to ensure sustainable cashew production in Nigeria.

Evaluation of the Socio-Economic Factors Impeding Production of Cashew in Ogaji, North Central Nigeria

The paper examined socio-economic factors affecting cashew production in Ogaji, Ankpa LGA, Northcentral Nigeria. Data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and interview administered to 143 registered farmers. Data obtained were analyzed descriptively using inferential statistics of mean score ranking, frequency tables and graph. Results showed that majority of the farmers were within the age of 26-35 and have been into farming since birth. Also there was moderate literacy level among the farmers as 50% of total respondents have formal education. Findings reveals that the socio-economic factor affecting production were; Access to and use of credit facilities, farmers-herders conflict, income level, transportation problem, lack of access to capital and poor extension services agent relations were the major socio-economic factors affecting cashew production in the study area. The study amongst others recommends that; the government should encourage private sectors such as Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to invest in credits facilities like small-scale bank to offer credit to farmers at affordable rate, proactive measures should be taken to quell the farmer-herders crisis as it poses threat to farming activities. Government should strive to develop roads; this will increase small holder’s economic opportunities by reducing transport cost and allowing farmers to get access to marketing information and small holder’s cashew profitability. Extension service agent should try to understand the rural dwellers and their educational level to help them have access to extension services in other to improve their knowledge of farm management.

Technical and resource-use efficiencies of cashew production in Ghana: implications on achieving sustainable development goals

The expansion of Ghana’s cashew industry is expected to be a watershed moment in the country’s diversification of agricultural export commodity trade. In Ghana’s cashew farms, however, there is a significant difference between observed and potential farm yield. As a result, empirical study is required to serve as policy guidelines in order to improve farmer’s productive efficiency and, as a necessary consequence, contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of no poverty and zero hunger. The study explores farm-level productive efficiency and factors that can lead to variations in farmer’s technical efficiency in the Bono East region of Ghana. The single-stage double bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used to estimate technical efficiency and its determinants. The estimated results indicate that the average bias-corrected technical efficiency score (33%) was lower than the original average score (51%), suggesting that the original efficiency scores had been skewed upwards. Some of the primary factors that have been reported as having a significant effect on technical efficiency include the gender of respondents, educational attainment, and membership of farmer groups. Results of the resource-use efficiency analysis suggest that cashew farmers in Ghana do not escape the criticisms of inefficient resource allocation. Farm-level policies should be skewed towards enhancing resource-use efficiency through effective capacity-building to improve farmer’s management and technical capabilities, improve farm productivity, and consequently contribute to Ghana's quest to meet the sustainable development goals.

Creating Sustainable Income through the Cashew Nuts Value Chain (Evidence from Ghana)

The study assessed the actors along the Cashew value chain and their influence in making the income derived from cashew sustainable. Primary data for the study were collected from 210 actors using a structured questionnaire. The gross margin and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) were used to determine the revenue margin and market competitiveness (concentration) among the various actors along the cashew value chain. The results revealed that most of the actors were male and had between 6-10 years of experience in cashew production. Also, the actors’ resort to loans in financing their operations was an interest rate of 24%. Producers had the lowest net margin on revenue of 16.95%, and they indicated that fluctuation in pricing and bushfires were challenges faced in production. Purchasing clerks pointed out that inadequate storage facilities and the high cost of transportation were their challenges. Moreover, processors indicated that lack of government support, high interest on loans, and low demand for processed cashew nuts were their challenges. According to cashew nuts exporters, their significant challenges are high cost of transport and high cost of storage facilities. Furthermore, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index showed that the cashew industry in the study area was highly concentrated. The study recommended that government efforts should be focused on developing a cashew Development Board to enhance marketing and price regulation.

Application of a\xa0cashew-based oxime in extracting Ni, Mn and Co from aqueous solution

BackgroundCashew nut shell is a by-product of cashew (Anacardium occidentale) production, which is abundant in many developing countries. Cashew nut shell liquor (CNSL) contains a functional chemical, cardanol, which can be converted into a hydroxyoxime. The hydroxyoximes are expensive reagents for metal extraction.MethodsCNSL-based oxime was synthesized and used to extract Ni, Co, and Mn from aqueous solutions. The extraction potential was compared against a commercial extractant (LIX 860N).ResultsAll metals were successfully extracted with pH0.5 between 4 and 6. The loaded organic phase was subsequently stripped with an acidic solution. The extraction efficiency and pH0.5 of the CNSL-based extractant were similar to a commercial phenol-oxime extractant. The metals were stripped from the loaded organic phase with a recovery rate of 95% at a pH of 1.ConclusionsCashew-based cardanol can be used to economically produce an oxime in a simple process. The naturally-based oxime has the economic potential to sustainably recover valuable metals from spent lithium-ion batteries.Graphic abstract

АСПЕКТЫ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ ИННОВАЦИОННЫМ И ИНВЕСТИЦИОННЫМ РАЗВИТИЕМ СЫРЬЕВОГО СЕКТОРА: КОМПАРАТИВНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ, НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ РАЗВИТИЯ

The study reflects the management aspects of innovation and investment development of the commodity sector on the example of the African Republic. The key problems of African countries are problems caused by dependence on world commodity prices. When examining the dynamics of the development of the commodity sector (production of cashew nuts) in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, the need to increase the country's resilience to the volatilization of world prices and global demand has been identified. The authors noted that to achieve this goal it is necessary to increase the competitiveness of cashew products on the world market and to steadily increase processing. The novelty of the study is to consider changing the vector of development of the cashew sector in order to intensify processing in the country and minimize dependence on world prices for raw cashews. The relevance of the research results on the creation of value added in the agro-industrial complex is based on its importance and the need to make innovative and investment decisions for conducting in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, as well as in Russia and other foreign countries. The authors analyzed the dynamics of the development of the cashew sector in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire and noted its stability since the 1990s and during 2000–20019, and conducted a comparative analysis to increase the share of the country's cashew products in world production. Innovation and investment trends in the development of the cashew sector in the African Republic are considered with the help of World Bank investments, public and private investments. For the development of processing enterprises, the government needs to effectively use innovative solutions and investment resources. Proposed measures to ensure the steady growth of cashew nuts processing. The work includes examples from the World Bank, the government, the National Cotton and Cashew Council (CCA), foreign companies in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire on innovative and investment development, industrialization of the cashew sector and the creation of new jobs in this sector to increase employment of the population.

Detecting bee’s floral preference in cashew orchards: A path towards preservation and management of bee communities and improvement of cashew productivity in Côte d’Ivoire

In spite of the low agronomic performances of Ivorian cashew orchards, Côte d'Ivoire recently became the first worldwide producer and exporter of raw cashew nuts. To maintain this ringleader position, several factors should be understood including the ecological factors supporting this success. Pollination service due to bees was recognized to impact cashew production. Therefore, determining cashew trees that are more attractive to bees can contribute to promote pollination activities. To detect these cashew trees possessing the flowers preferred by bees, two types of investigations were undertaken: (1) a socioeconomic survey in 3167 cashew hectares belonging to 381 producers and (2) an experimental detection of the bees’ floral preference. As results, 58 of the 381 interviewed producers had identified the bees’ floral preference resulting in a detection of 681 cashew trees. The flowers of the preferred cashew trees were visited 5 times more and they attracted 3 times more bee foragers as compared to non-preferred cashew trees. These findings may be included in research programs focus on: (i) improvement of agronomic performances and (ii) effective management of bees’ community.

Intercrop practices in cashew production

Intercrop practices in cashew production

Intercrop practices in cashew production

Cashew is an important economic tree crop cultivated for its wood, apple and most especially the nut. The large plant spacing involved in its cultivation encourages intercropping. Intercropping cashew during the early phase of establishment with arable and sometimes tree crops is usually practiced which serves as food security, cultural weed control and means of additional income to farmers. The aim of this study is to look into some experimented cashew intercrop and gaps in the intercrop patterns. Review of past literatures was used in discovering cashew intercrop patterns in Nigeria and some major cashew producing countries. Intercropping cashew with arable crops is more popular and profitable than with tree crop except in Sri-lanka where intercropping with coconut seems profitable than cashew sole cropping. Intercropping of cashew with arable crops, legumes and vegetables did not affect the growth of young cashew except millet, sorghum and pigeon-pea. Cashew/maize and cashew/cassava/yam had high returns respectively. Intercrop combinations with more than two crops affected the growth of cashew. Cashew/rice and cashew/plantain intercrop suppressed the growth of weeds with no negative effect on cashew growth. More concise and implementable research can be done where information on weed control, growth parameters, nutrient demands, yield and economic returns can be gotten from an experiment on the various cashew intercrop patterns as this will make the findings more adoptable by the farmers. Intercropping cashew with more than 2 crops should be discouraged.

Impact of technological change in cashew production in south Konkan region of Maharashtra

Cashewnut (Anacardium occidentale L.) a cash crop also called as Dollar earning crop. Maharashtra is leading state in production and productivity of cashew due to maximum adaptation of high yielding varieties and modern technologies developed by the Dr. BSKKV, Dapoli, Ratnagiri. The study entitled, “Technological change in cashew production in south Konkan region (Maharashtra) – an economic analysis” was undertaken specific objectives, to estimate the technical efficiency in cashew production across level of adoption and to assess the impact of technology on productivity. 320 cashew growers were selected for the study. Technical efficiency for all farms were calculated by using frontier production function and then the farms were grouped into three categories. As the results show that, in Vengurla - 4 variety orchard more farms had medium technical efficiency i.e., between 50 to 75 per cent as compared to low (< 50%) and high (> 75%) technical efficiency group. Average per cent of technical efficiency at overall level was 67.19 per cent. Among the groups such as low, medium and high adopters it was 59.34 per cent, 56.37 per cent and 90.25 per cent, respectively. At overall level about 62 farms had high technical efficiency more than 75 per cent, 233 farms had medium technical efficiency (50 to 75%) and about 25 farms had low technical efficiency (less than 50%). The use of chemical fertilizers and plant protection chemicals were sparse. This concluded that the farmers were not properly aware about the use of chemical fertilizers and followed the pest management schedule. It is also showed that, there is potential to increase the yield, through technology adoption. For increasing farm income of the farmer, they must be using the modern cashew production technologies.

Relationship between personal and socio-economic characteristics of the cashewnut growers and their adoption level

India is the largest producer of raw cashew in the world which ranks first in area under cashew (8, 55, 000 ha) with an annual production of 6.20 lakh MT. Nigeria ranks second in area under the cashewnut cultivation, but ranks first in cashewnut production with annual production of 6.36 lakh MT. In the year 2007-2008, India had exported 1,34,340 metrics tonnes of raw cashew valued Rs.11.97crore. The cashew production in Maharashtra is mainly concentrated in Konkan region particularly in Ratnagiri district. In Maharashtra, the area under cashew was 1.65lakh ha. In Ratnagiri, area under cashew was 88,612ha with production of 85,822 tonnes of cashewnuts. The exploratory survey research design was used for the present study. The study was conducted in Ratnagiri district of the Konkan region of Maharashtra state. Three tahsils namely, Khed and Dapoli were selected purposively on the basis of the maximum area under cashewnut cultivation. The main objective of this study is to study the relationship between personal and socio-economic characteristics of the cashewnut growers and their adoption level. It was observed during the study that, The relationship between selected characteristics of the cashew growers and adoption of recommended critical crop management practices for the cashew crop revealed that the characteristics namely age, family size, and number of bearing cashewnut trees were non-significantly related with the adoption level of critical crop management practices for the cashew crop. On the other hand, education, land holding, annual income, age of orchard, production from cashewnut tree, experience in cashew cultivation and market orientation were significantly related with adoption level. The present study was used as a multistage sampling procedure. Collected data were classified, tabulated and analyzed by using statistical methods like frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation and Chi-square.

Effects of freeze‐drying process on the production of cashew apple powder: Determination of bioactive compounds and fruit powder properties

With an annual production of 3,960,680 tons globally, cashew production around the world focus only on the nut yield while studies on cashew apple have advocated significant antimicrobial and anti-diabetic properties to its phytomolecules. In order to evade the drawbacks of spray drying like thermal and enzymatic deterioration, the study focuses on non-thermal processing of cashew apple by freeze drying. The product exhibited retention of total polyphenols by 96%, total carotenoids by 92%, and ascorbic acid by 60%. The water activity (aw) and moisture values testified within the acceptable limits for safe storage. Among the powder properties, better bulk density (0.45 g/cc) and aw (0.214) were noted for C2 formulation. Based on sensorial parameters, de-tanned product (C3) was preferred, whereas other formulations had more retainment of bioactives and antioxidant activity. The degree of caking, aw, and croma value were estimated as fair levels over a 120-day storage period at 25°C. Practical applications Cashew, an exotic cash crop, is mainly cultivated for the nut value among the Asian–African regions, while the fruit portion is mostly considered as agro-junk. Trivial rations are used as animal fodder, leaving the major remains on the soil to rot due to its perishability. Freeze-dried cashew apple powder resulted in development of nutritiously intact, minimally processed, value added product with much better shelf life in comparison with the whole fruit and the juice. This product is identified as a massively versatile food ingredient. The potentiality of the product finds varied application in smoothies and ice creams. It can be used for flavoring of salads, pickles, and jams and as toppings on pizza, pancake-like foods. The product on commercialization will be convenient to health conscious consumers and favor the farming community.

ANALISIS PENDAPATAN USAHATANI JAMBU METE (Anacardium Occidentale L.) DI DESA KILA, KECAMATAN AIMERE, KABUPATEN NGADA

This research was conducted in Kila Village, Aimere Subdistrict, Ngada District in March to April 2018. The purpose of this study were to: (1) find out the large income of cashew farming at Desa Kila (2) knowing the size of BEP production and prices on farming Cashew nut at Kila Village (3) knows the relative advantages value of cashew farming on Kila Village. The research location was Kila Village, which was done intentionally because the location was one of the central production of cashew. Determination of respondents was done randomly, namely 10% (56 people) of the total cashew farmer population of 130 people. The results showed that the total income earned was Rp 112,417,688 with the average total income obtained from each respondent farmer in the amount of Rp 2,007,458.71. BEP Value of volume is 1.107,48 kgs with a total production of 6.255 kgs, which means that when the amount of production is 1.107,48 kg, cashew farming is in the amount of break even or the amouunt of production in return so that the total production of 6.255 kg has exceeded the break even profit. The BEP Value was Rp 3.866,76 and the average selling price was Rp 21.839,29 which means that when the cashew nut price was Rp 3.866,76/kg, the farmers has returned the capital or return of capital, so the average selling price of Rp 21.839,29 has been above the break-even price. Or in other words cashew farming was on a profitable position. The analysis results of the comparison of the revenue and cost elements of cashew farming revealed that the R/C ratio was 5,65 obtained from the total revenue of Rp 136.604.259 divided by the total cost of Rp 24.186.571. R/C Ratio of 5,65, which means that every one rupiah issued by the respondent will receive revenue of Rp 5.65 as a benefit of cashew farming activities. Because the R/C ratio was bigger than 1, it can be concluded that cashew farming was economically beneficial for farmers at the research location.

First Report of Dieback Caused by Neofusicoccum batangarum in Cashew in Guinea-Bissau.

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) is a cash crop with a highly significant economic importance in West Africa, particularly in Guinea-Bissau (Monteiro et al. 2015, 2017). In October 2018, dieback-like symptoms such as wilt and necrosis of apical shoots were observed in 10 % of the cashew trees grown in a 100 plant-orchard in Bolama Island at Bijagós archipelago, Guinea-Bissau. Six symptomatic apical shoots from individual plants were collected for fungal isolation and identification. Tissue pieces (3 × 2 mm) from healthy to diseased margins were surface sterilized with 1 % sodium hypochlorite, washed twice with sterilized water, placed on potato dextrose agar (PDA, Difco® Laboratories) supplemented with potassium thiocyanate (50 µg/ml), and incubated at 24 ± 1 °C in the dark for 7 days. Four fungal colonies were isolated (67 %) and purified through hyphal tips removal, displaying rapid growth rate, and aerial mycelia that initially was white, turning later to dark greenish on PDA. Pycnidia produced on 1.5 % water agar and sterilized pine needles (± 25ºC; near-UV light) were solitary, covered by mycelium, obpyriform to ampulliform (152.5 ± 41.6 × 135.2 ± 30.8 μm, n = 30). Conidia were unicellular, hyaline, smooth, fusoid to ovoid, thin-walled, measuring 16.21 ± 1.52 × 5.84 ± 0.66 μm (n = 50, L/W 2.8). Such morphological features are characteristic of Neofusicoccum spp. (Phillips et al. 2013). For molecular identification, genomic DNA was extracted from a representative isolate GB160 and partial regions of ribosomal internal transcriber spacer (ITS) (ITS1/ITS4; White et al. 1990), translation elongation factor 1-α (EF1-α) (EF1-688F/EF1-1251R; Alves et al. 2008) and β-tubulin (β-tub) (Bt2a/Bt2b; Glass and Donaldson 1995) genes were amplified as previously described, respectively, with BSA (50 mg/ml). Amplicons were sequenced and deposited in GenBank (ITS, MN952993; EF1-α, MN952204; β-tub, MN952208). BLAST analysis of ITS, EF1-α and β-tub gene sequences showed 100 % identity with Neofusicoccum batangarum reference strain CBS124923 (FJ900608, FJ900654, FJ900635, respectively). Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian Inference analyses from the concatenated dataset placed GB160 isolate within the N. batangarum cluster (BS = 72 %; PP = 0.95). For pathogenicity assessment, 3-month-old cashew "Caju di Terra" plants (n = 8) grown in a greenhouse under controlled conditions were inoculated following a randomized block design as described by Lima et al. (2013). Briefly, 3 mm diam. stem tissue bark was removed and replaced with a 3 mm diameter PDA plug retrieved from the colony margin. Inoculation wound was covered with sterilized wet cotton and sealed with parafilm. Eight control plants were only treated with PDA plugs and the wound covered and sealed as described. After 15 days, all inoculated plants displayed similar symptoms to those observed in the field, and vascular lesions (10.8 ± 4.0 cm), whereas control plants remained symptomless. Koch's postulates were fulfilled by successful re-isolation of the pathogen from all inoculated stems and identification by morphology and gene sequencing. N. batangarum was identified associated with Anacardium spp. in Brazil (Netto et al. 2017) and recently reported as causing grapevine dieback in Brazil (Rêgo et al. 2020). To our knowledge, this is the first report of N. batangarum causing cashew dieback in Guinea-Bissau and West Africa. Occurrence of this disease may represent a significant impact for cashew production since this crop is the major agricultural commodity in Guinea-Bissau.

Disparities in Agricultural Practices According to Cashew Nut Production Regions in Côte d’Ivoire and Probable Incidence on Nut Quality

Improving the quality of agricultural products depends largely on production process. In the absence of data on farmers’ practices and the average quality of cashew nuts in Cote d’Ivoire, the present study aimed to provide a detailed description of the cashew nut production process. Thus, a survey was carried out in the zones of Mankono, Dabakala and Bondoukou among 386 cashew producers selected at random and interviewed using the face-to-face technique. The results revealed that intercropping was practiced in cashew cultivation (42% - 62% of the producers), modern cultivation technique (72% - 98% of the producers) but with rare use of selected seeds (8% - 20% of the producers), labour/ha during nut harvesting (2.6 - 12 workers/ha). Concerning the harvesting process, the time taken to pick the nuts varies from 1 to 14 days; the use of pesticides during harvesting (14% to 97% of the producers) and the absence of sorting of the nuts in 42% of the Mankono producers justify the probable conservation of defective and immature nuts in their production. For drying, the main dryers were the slatted table, the cemented surface and the tarpaulin, but other dryers were found such as the mosquito net, the propylene rice bag, the fertiliser bag and the black bag. Generally, the drying time of cashew nuts was very short: 2 days (43% - 77% of the producers interviewed) but surprisingly 1 day (7% - 27% of the producers interviewed). For Mankono, the use of chemicals was permanent during all stages of the cashew production process. Overall, the results suggest the need to assess the real impact of farmers’ practices on the quality of cashew nuts from Cote d’Ivoire.

Economics of Value Added Cashew Products Processed in South-East Zone, Nigeria

Economics of Value Added Cashew Products Processed in South-East Zone, Nigeria

Profile of women in cashew farm and processing sector and their constraints at workplace-a case study

A cross sectional analysis of farm women in various activities related to cashew production and processing was conducted at Cashew Research Station (KAU), Madakkathara, Kerala. Among the total workers 68.88 per cent were women workers and 77.40 per cent of them were residing in the same village which made them to coordinate the farm and household activities in a better way. The women were involved in seasonal farm activities viz harvest and post-harvest handling (93.54%), grafting (67.74%), nursery operations and planting (87.09% each), weeding and fertilizer applicationactivities (83.87%) and pruningand canopy management (74.19%).Afewskilled groups were involved in cashew apple processing (22.58%) and nut processing (29.03%). More than half of the women workers (51.61%) were the sole earning members of the family. The threat of snake at farmland was identified as major constraint and needed to be addressed at policy level to get insured. Introduction of proper safety measures at farm level would also help to reduce the risk of wild animals in the remote farmlands. The seasonal nature of cashew farm sector was identified as another major constraint for farm women and hence diversified income generation activities needed to be taken up for assuring year-round employment.

Prospects and challenges of cash crop production in Nigeria: The case of cashew (Anacardium occidentale, Linn.)

The paper examined the prospects and challenges of cashew production in Nigeria. Qualitative and quantitative data which were used to identify these challenges and prospects were retrieved from research findings, literatures, journals and reports. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis was used to highlight the strengths and weaknesses inherent in the internal environment of the cashew sector as well as the opportunities and threats from the external environment of the cashew sector. The paper takes a step further by employing Threats Opportunities Weaknesses and Strengths (TOWS) analysis matrix to come up with models that can be employed to improve the cashew sector in Nigeria. Some of the prospects identified include the potential employment creation, increasing cultivation area and evidenced value addition. While some of the challenges identified include poor pricing of cashew nuts, lack of proper policy intervention and underutilization of cashew apple. Government is advised to set up a cashew marketing board and provide proper policy intervention to improve prices, production levels and provide employment opportunities.