The National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN) says 13 by-products in the cashew apple and 19 essential by- products in cashew as a whole fruit are rarely tapped.
NCAN National President, Dr Ojo Ajanaku, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Abuja.
Ajanaku said that the by-products could be processed along the value chain.
He said there is a need to preserve the cashew apple for processing purposes and utilisation.
“We have so many things that can come out from the cashew apple. For example, the cashew apple can be used for cashew wine, cashew spirit, cashew oil, cashew butter and animal feed among others.
“There are also a lot that can come out of the cashew apple; 13 by- products can come out of it; they are not even from the nut because from the nut we have cashew liquid or cashew nut shear liquid which is used for pharmaceuticals; it is like a biochemical.
“So, we have a lot of by- products and all together we have about 19 we can get from cashew; some of which we have not started harnessing due to preservation constraints.
“We are making plans for adequate storage for the cashew apple so that we can start exploring the natural resources and expand the industry’s scope of forex,’’ he said.
According to him, cashews ought to be brought for storage and processing purposes as soon as they are harvested as such would make the produce fresh and ready for use.
He said that such a storage facility will help in aggregating both the nut and the apple while making the centre a buffer for processors.
He said that many stakeholders did not have the financial capacity to process all through the year as cashew was a seasonal product.
“Since cashew is mainly for export, we are doing that to cushion the effect of interest on our processors both the ones that will process the apple and the ones that will process the raw nut.
“So, we are thinking of turning Nigeria to another cashew hub.
“We are waiting for the upcoming season; by then, we will be able to tell exactly the exchange rate value for cashew apple,’’ he said.
