Ghana's Overlooked Cashew Apple Could Become a New Rural Economy

Sunyani, Ghana – At harvest time in Ghana’s cashew-growing communities, the ground beneath the trees tells a familiar story.

While farmers carefully collect the nuts that will be sold to buyers, the fleshy cashew apples attached to them are often left behind. Within hours, the fruit begins to spoil, turning a potentially valuable part of the harvest into waste.

Ghana is one of Africa’s leading cashew producers, harvesting roughly a quarter of a million tonnes of raw cashew nuts each year. The trees also produce far more cashew apples than nuts and industry officials say most of the fruit is never processed or sold.

For decades, the cashew apple has remained largely outside the market economy. Farmers have had few buyers for the fruit, and without nearby processing facilities, transporting it before it spoils is difficult.

Now, researchers, farmers and industry leaders believe the discarded fruit could become a new source of income for rural communities – if Ghana can build the systems needed to collect, process and market it.

From waste to value

For Francisca Aba Ansah, the opportunity became clear after field visits revealed the scale of cashew apple waste. She is a food post-harvest scientist at the CSIR-Food Research Institute and project lead for MA-CASH, a research initiative focused on expanding value from cashew production.

“MA-CASH basically means Maximising Gains from Cashew Production for Youth Development,” Ansah told Al Jazeera. “The project started by looking at the level of waste in growing areas and the processing options available.”

Working with farming communities, researchers developed products including juice, juice blends, sausages, bagels and other foods made from cashew apples.

One of the biggest challenges was the fruit’s high tannin content, which affects taste and consumer acceptance.

“Cashew apples have high tannin content, so we did a lot of research to reduce the tannin and minimise the anti-nutrient effects when people consume the products,” she said.

An even bigger barrier was the fruit’s short shelf life. Fresh cashew apples can spoil within 24 hours of harvest, making transport from farms to processing centres problematic.

“When you harvest cashew apples, within 24 hours it goes bad,” she said. “We developed the technology that allows farmers to keep it for up to six days before it is shipped to the processing centre. When it gets there, it can be refrigerated for the whole year for production.”

The preservation technology has been tested through pilot work under the project and could make commercial collection and processing possible for the first time in many farming communities.

The project is also exploring off-season income opportunities, including beekeeping under cashew plantations.

“During the off-season, when you will not be working there, you can actually do beekeeping,” she said. “The honey that comes from cashew has good quality, so farmers can still have their business running.”

Beyond the nut

For some farmers, the idea of creating value from cashew apples is already moving from possibility to practice.

Samuel Nortey Adumoah has experimented with turning the fruit into pito, a traditional local drink, as well as wine and other beverages.

Like many farmers, he once viewed the cashew apple as little more than a by-product. Now he believes it could become an important source of income.

“Cashew beverages have strong market potential,” Adumoah told Al Jazeera. “I call on investors to come into this space to assist us because it is very lucrative.”

His experience reflects both the promise and the challenge of building a new industry. Farmers can create products, but scaling those ideas requires investment, infrastructure and reliable links to markets.

The missing supply chain

Raphael Godlove Ahenu, National Coordinator of Cashew Watch Ghana, says many farmers still need support to understand the economic possibilities beyond the nut.

The organisation has been working with farmers, particularly in the Bono Region, to promote value addition and encourage communities to explore processing opportunities.

“For the past two years, we have been mobilising farmers into groups and educating them on how to process cashew into fruit juice and other products, apart from selling the nut to foreign companies,” Ahenu told Al Jazeera.

But he warns that processing facilities alone will not guarantee success.

“This is not the first time a cashew processing factory has been established,” Ahenu said. “Some private companies have set up processing plants, but unfortunately many have struggled or collapsed because they could not secure enough supply from farmers.”

Many farmers depend on advance financing from export buyers supplying major markets such as India and Vietnam, which often determines where their produce is sold.

“Most of the time, foreign buyers give farmers soft loans during the off-season,” he said. “Before the cashew season arrives, farmers have already taken money and are compelled to sell to these buyers.”

Without alternative financing, farmers may struggle to participate in new value chains, even when opportunities emerge.

Creating demand

Financial experts believe cashew apple processing could create additional revenue streams and strengthen farmers’ ability to access credit.

Aaron Owusu Nketia, a financial adviser and loan officer working with cashew farmers in the Bono Region, said local processing could improve confidence among farmers and lenders.

“If the government is able to establish processing factories for cashew upcycling, it will help farmers with additional revenue streams to pay back their loans, and it will encourage banks to give more loans to farmers,” Nketia told Al Jazeera.

But creating an industry requires more than producing new products. Cashew apple juice and other products must compete with established beverages and convince consumers that a fruit once treated as waste has commercial value.

For Robert Abongo, a teacher and community support activist working with farmers in Sekyeredumasi in Ashanti Region, awareness remains a major challenge.

“Most farmers rely solely on the nuts,” Abongo told Al Jazeera. “The government must intensify education on value addition so farmers will be informed and plan with the fruits in mind instead of relying only on the seeds.”

A strategic resource

The government believes cashew apple processing could become part of Ghana’s wider agricultural transformation agenda.

Andrews Osei Okrah, Chief Executive Officer of the Tree Crops Development Authority, said the fruit is increasingly being recognised as more than just an agricultural by-product.

“Once regarded as a by-product, the cashew apple is now a strategic economic resource with immense potential to drive agro-industrialisation, create jobs, improve rural livelihoods and contribute to Ghana’s economic growth,” Osei Okrah told Al Jazeera.

Ghana now has an opportunity but must focus on implementation, said John Y. Kupagme, a researcher and head of the Agriculture Sector at the African Chamber of Content Producers.

“The policy framework provides a solid foundation. What is needed now is coordinated action and sustained investment,” Kupagme told Al Jazeera.

The next harvest

The push to develop a cashew apple economy comes as Ghana searches for ways to diversify agricultural income.

For years, Ghana’s cashew farmers measured the value of their harvest by the nuts they carried away.

Now, they are beginning to look at the fruit that was once left behind. Whether it becomes a new source of income will depend on if Ghana can build a value chain that works from the farm to the factory and finally to consumers.

As another harvest season approaches, the cashew apples will once again fall beneath the trees. The question is whether they will be left to spoil, or collected, processed and sold as the crop that Ghana has been overlooking all along.

“We have the fruits. We have the ideas. We just need the investment to make it work,” Ahenu said.