The Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) is confident that the new reforms it is rolling out in the cashew sector should help it to meet the 10 billion dollars Non-Traditional Exports (NTE) revenue target by 2020.
President Akufo Addo in February, launched a new ten year cashew development plan.
The plan, is largely aimed at improving the production levels of the cash crop and increase the revenue from exporting it.
The plan also involves supplying improved seedlings and giving financial support to underperforming cashew processing companies.
According to the CEO of the GEPA, Gifty Klenam, these interventions should rake in about four billion dollars from the cashew sector and reverse the balance of trade deficit.
“We are putting so many things in place such as the ten year development plan for cashew that the President recently launched. We are looking at cashew alone giving us about forty percent of the overall target and for that matter, we are putting in so much effort into cashew production in terms of the seedlings development which is very crucial. Because if you are producing a product and you get it wrong from the seedling, the yield will be affected.”
Madam Gifty Klenam also disclosed that the outfit will commence a spraying exercise in October this year which will improve yields from the crop.
“Already, the yields that we were expecting to get from the existing plants we are not getting that is how come we started with the spraying of cashew farms in 2017. In October this year too, we are going to spray the cashew farms so we are able to at least increase production by three times.”
Meanwhile the GEPA has organized a market research training workshop for exporters.
The exercise is to expose the businesses to opportunities in the export industry and address some peculiar challenges that confront them in their line of work.
–
By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
