The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sabo Nanono, has disclosed that Nigeria generated over $500 million from cashew production in 2018 and provided livelihood for about 300,000 to 500,000 families mostly youths and women.
Nanono disclosed this at the weekend after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) West Africa PRO-Cashew Project to develop cashew Agro Industry.
According to him, the initiative will improve productivity, expand the National Hectareage of the crop and most importantly achieve national food and nutrition security, revenue generation, exchange earnings, wealth creation and employment.
Nanono said government would continue to develop the commodity for export, adding that since the 1990s, cashew had increased the Nigerian GDP ranking as the 2nd Non-oil export foreign exchange earner for the country.