Nigeria’s cashew processing sector is grappling with significant challenges, with steep operating costs, weak infrastructure, and logistics bottlenecks preventing local firms from competing with global players in Vietnam, India, and the Ivory Coast.
“Nigeria’s processing capacity for cashew nuts is declining despite efforts to boost value addition,” said Daniel Gemana, managing director of Vertex Agro. “More than 70 percent of the factories have shut down; even my own factory has not processed any nuts for two years.”
Currently, only five cashew processors operate in the country, mostly foreign-owned, with a combined capacity of less than 18 percent. Experts warn that without a well-defined policy for cashew and other agricultural commodities, Nigeria will continue to export jobs and revenue it could earn through value addition.
The exit of Julius Berger from cashew processing in 2025, after recording a N2.4 billion loss, highlights the risks in the sector. According to Ojo Ajanaku, president of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria, “The few cashew processors left are foreign-owned and can survive because they access cheap funding and premium markets, while local processors face borrowing costs of around 30 percent.”
Nigeria is the fourth largest grower of cashew nuts in Africa and sixth globally, producing an estimated 350,000 metric tons annually. Despite this, over 90 percent of exports remain raw, earning $425 million in the first half of 2025, according to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council.
Industry stakeholders stress that boosting local processing, improving infrastructure, and providing affordable financing are essential to unlocking the sector’s growth and job creation potential.
