Over 70 cashew experts from the producing countries of the sub-region are expected to meet in Sunyani, the Brong Ahafo Region to discuss best practices and lessons learnt as well as to build national and regional networks for future collaboration.
The programme which is expected to provides a platform for participants will bring together experts from countries including Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Gambia, Tchad, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mali, Togo and Nigeria to share knowledge.
The training programme scheduled for today till Friday is being organized by the Competitive Cashew initiative (ComCashew) in partnership with the African Cashew Alliance (ACA), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and the Cocoa Research Institute Ghana (CRIG).
The training programme is part of the Master Training Programing for cashew value chain promotion which will ensure that participants will return to their host institutions, organisations, to have a multiplier effect on the cashew industry when sharing their knowledge and experiences gained by attending this tailor-made training.
During the knowledge sharing sessions of theories and their application, participants are expected to learn about all aspects of the cashew value chain from production and processing of raw cashew nuts, to economics, cashew market dynamics, marketing and financing mechanisms.
The second session in Sunyani will cover the main steps of good improved planting material development and the importance of good agricultural practices (GAP) in cashew production.
Participants will also be introduced to monitoring and evaluation and leadership and communication.
The first session, held in Ho, Volta region in May 2016 covered the cashew value chain concept, the dynamics of the cashew market and training material development.
The highlight was a visit to a cashew processing factory USIBRAS, in Prampram.
All sessions encompassed cross-cutting issues such as gender, policy development, sector regulations and nutrition value of cashew products.
Seth Osei-Akoto, Deputy Director, Cashew Desk, MOFA said: “We, in Ghana, are amongst the first to develop and distribute improved planting materials on a carefully planned and sustainable manner.
In collaboration with CRIG, we have so far supplied at least 400,000 improved cashew grafts to farmers in the Northern, Volta and Brong Ahafo regions and we have planted 4,000 hectares of new cashew plantations.”
Rolled out in seven months, the Master Training Programme is divided in three successive sessions to be held in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
In so called “inter-sessions”, the participants return to their host institutions/organizations to conduct fieldwork, either individually or in groups, to deepen knowledge on a selected topic.
After completion of the programme, the participants become acknowledged cashew experts.
They either train farmers, provide assistance to processors, or advice companies, organizations and institutions in their home countries.
Competitive Cashew initiative (ComCashew) previously known as the African Cashew initiative (ACi) constitutes a new type of multi-stakeholder partnership in development cooperation.
The initiative is mainly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for its third phase which started from May 1, 2016.
Private companies and government and donor agencies also support the Initiative. GIZ, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GmbH) has been commissioned with the management of the project with FairmatchSupport as an implementing partner who provides consultation on technical issues and facilitate linkages between farmers and processors.
ComCashew benefits from the diverse commercial and technical expertise of their private and public sector partners.
Important cooperation partners in Ghana are the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG).