Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, spoke on Dr. Abubakar’s behalf yesterday, January 24, at the beginning of cashew season and the celebration of Nigeria Cashew Day in Benin, the capital of Edo State. The theme of the event was “Industrializing the Nigerian Cashew Sector Through Inclusive Policies.”

“By the end of 2022, cashew nut exports from Nigeria generated over $250 million, or nearly 10% of the nation’s agricultural exports,” he stated.

2023 Cashew Export Prediction 

By 2023, cashew export is predicted to bring in $500 million for Nigerian farmers.

“I beg you to continue cooperating peacefully because this is the only way you can have a good influence on the long-term growth of the cashew industry and ensure that it helps this administration’s economic diversification program achieve its overarching objective.

Since the 1990s, cashew has gained more significance in Nigeria as an export-oriented cash crop. It has grown to be a significant non-oil export revenue source.

“Cashew has become a commercial crop in Nigeria. It is cultivated in 27 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

“In realization of the importance of cashew, the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, listed cashew as a priority crop to be promoted, under the Import Substitution Strategy of the present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“Out of the 250,000 metric tonnes of cashew nuts produced in Nigeria, only about 10 percent is processed, while Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) are sold to cashew buying agents for export and cashew apple eaten raw, and the rest wasted, because of inadequate facilities to process other cashew derivatives, for example, cashew juice, jam, and ice cream, among others. This means exporting Nigerian jobs to other countries.”

According to available reports, Nigeria was the 4th largest trading partner of China in Africa in 2011, and in the first 8 months of 2012, it was the 3rd. 

In April 2018, Nigeria signed a $2.4-billion currency swap deal valid for 3 years. In 2019, bilateral trade between China and Nigeria reached $19.27 billion.

Data collated by TechEconomy reveals China is responsible for the bulk of imports into Nigeria, ranking number one on the list of top 10 countries in the five quarters under review.

Meanwhile, exports to China are questionable, as Nigeria was missing from the nation’s top 10 export destinations in Q1 2018 – Q1 2020, and Q1 2022. 

Only in Q1 2021 did China rank in the top 10 export destinations when it ranked third with N190.11bn. In the same quarter, total imports from China were put at N2.01tn.

Some of the factors responsible for the low volume of exports in the country include lack of capacity building on the part of exporters; inadequate knowledge of the business, banks’ inability to fund exporters, and regulators’ cumbersome processes. 

According to the NBS, imports from China include motorcycles, machines for the reception of voice, electrical apparatus for line telephony, or line telegraphy, mackerel, parts of machinery for working on rubber or plastics; crude salt, compressed salt used in animal feeding, antibiotics, herbicides and more.

According to data from China’s customs agency, the top five African countries that imported the most goods from China in 2021 were Nigeria $23 billion or 16 percent, South Africa $21 billion or 14 percent, Egypt $18 billion or 12 percent, Ghana $8 billion or 5 percent, and Kenya $7 billion. Their combined imports made up more than half of all imports of Chinese goods to Africa last year.

While, Nigeria is not among the top five African exporters to China in 2021 which include South Africa $33 billion or 31 percent of total exports to China, Angola $21 billion or 20 percent, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) $12 billion or 11 percent, Republic of Congo $5 billion or 5 percent and Zambia $4 billion or 4 percent. Their combined exports accounted for 71 percent of all exports to China last year.