President of the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr Ademola Adesokan, has warned against a ban on the exports of raw cashew nuts.

Adesokan, who made the call at the 2026 cashew season flagoff and stakeholders meeting, said such a restriction would devastate smallholder farmers, depress farmgate prices, deepen rural poverty, and undermine Nigeria’s non-oil foreign exchange earnings.

He urged the government to learn from the experience of the shea butter and cocoa ban which caused their prices at the farm gate to crash.

Adesokan said: “We saw what happened in cocoa this season, sharp rise in price followed by a painful crash in price.

“Let us not repeat the same mistake with cashew. Cashew is not a get-rich-quick business; it is a serious business that feeds families, sustains communities and supports national economy. So, we must protect price stability, trade responsibly and think beyond today.”

The meeting, attended by cashew farmers, processors, exporters and other stakeholders in the value chain who make up members of NCAN, had earlier unanimously voted to endorse the leadership of the Adesokan-led executive.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has urged the stakeholders in the cashew processing sector to ensure 30 per cent value addition on the product before export.

Speaking at the NCAN AGM in Lagos on Tuesday, the Deputy Director in the Industrial Development Department (IDD), Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment, Mrs. Olumuyiwa Ajayi-Ade, said the Federal Government is ready to transform the country’s cashew sector from a largely raw commodity export industry into a value-adding, competitive and industrialised ecosystem that delivers shared prosperity.

Ajayi-Ade said the cashew sector stands as one of Nigeria’s most viable non-oil value chains with the capacity to create thousands of jobs, stimulate rural industrialisation, earn foreign exchange and deepen economic diversification.

She said: “Despite our natural endowment and growing global demand, Nigeria continues to export her cashew in raw form, leaving value, jobs and income on the table for other nations to grapple.

“The reality underscores an urgent truth that business as usual is no longer an option. It is in response to this dilemma and the need to diversify the economy that the present administration of President Bola Tinubu is pushing for at least 30 per cent value addition on cashew before export.

“This is where the capacity to create jobs for our youths lies. Therefore, the Federal Ministry of Trade, Industry and Investment is performing its duty as the MDA saddled with industrialisation, investment promotion and trade facilitation is very interested in the development of the Nigeria Cashew Policy Roadmap.

“The roadmap represents a deliberate shift from fragmented interventions to a coordinated long-term and result-oriented framework for developing the cashew value chain from farm to factory and from the domestic market to global competitiveness with a strong emphasis on value addition and industrial growth.”

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Olusegun Adebayo, said the Federal Government wants the cashew processors to carry out backward integration.

Adebayo said the body has applied for 18,000 hectares in Kwara State to be cleared and allocated to people who have verified processing facilities.

He said: “It is expensive to set up a facility and it is also very expensive to stock cashew for the processing cycle of the year. So it is wise that some of them also support smallholder farmers by producing their own cashew.

“The old NALDA plantations in Ogun and Kwara states will undergo tree replacement drive for the existing farmers on those farm estates. We are replacing the existing cashew trees with high-improved seedlings to increase production.

“Our target is not to stay at number two on non-oil export products but to push out the cocoa traders out of number one. It is possible and I want the best for the association and we are going to do our best.”