Modern cashew farming is profitable and offers economic value not only by boosting the country’s GDP but also by making the standard of living bearable to the average citizens of countries with a high rate of unemployment. Improved cashew varieties benefits are innumerable, a wealth generative scheme of which a government of a country can promote sustainable development of the nation.

The yield of traditional cashew trees is a mild barrier to the developments stated, in some instance, it takes up to five to seven years for these variants to germinate but it lives for up to thirty years with only ten to twenty years of yield before it declines.

New and improved varieties of cashew (hybrid) have over the years been released, and they mostly take only three to four years to bear fruits with higher yields and better nut quality than the natural ones.

Economic value of modern cashew farming

Shell oil: The cashew nutshell liquid (CSNL) or cashew shell oil (CAS) are viscous yellowish sheen found in the honeycomb structure of the cashew nutshell and is the byproduct of the processing of the cashew nuts. These are natural resin and are raw materials with multiple uses such as tropical folk medicine and anti-termite.

Animal feed: When cashew nuts or apple are discarded because they are unfit for human consumption; these products can be used to feed livestock, and animals can also eat the leaves of cashew trees. There is no reported case of these fruits as hazardous to the animals.

Nut oil: The extracted oil from the nut is a dark yellow oil that is derived from pressing the cashew nuts and is delicious for cooking and dressing of salad. Many people prefer nut oil even with the rarity and so learning to process and make them available is fund generating.

Alcohol: Ripened cashew apples are mashed, and the extracted juice are fermented and are served use to make beverage with almost 15% alcohol or when dried and fermented in water, they become more strong liquor. These practices are in Indian state of Goa and Tanzania.

Apple: Mature cashew apple are eaten as fresh, flavoured drink or juice, cooked in curries of fermented into vinegar, citric acid, or alcoholic drink. The apple provides health benefits and can also be taken for refreshments.

Husk: Cashew nut kernel husks are used in emerging industrial applications such as absorbent, composites, biopolymers, dyes, and enzymes synthesis.

Cashew nuts: These seeds serve as snacks or food, cashew milk, deserts, and cake.

Modern Cashew Farming

In modern farms today, the popular main varieties in Nigeria include the Brazilian cashew, Chinese cashew, and Indian cashew. The most grown in the county are the Brazilian jumbo.

Jumbo cashew variety (Brazilian draft): The Brazilian jumbo cashew is a hybrid tree whose fruiting is short, and it takes three to four years for this variety to grow and start fruiting

Ogbomosho cashew variety: This variety is mostly planted in Oyo state, Nigeria. It is remarkable for its high yield and nut quality. It grows within the period of three to five years and fruit around this period.

Indian Dwarf: These are improved varieties from Indian. Their trees are dwarf and they offer high yield and better nut quality.

Chinese cashew variety: This variety takes about five years for the Chinese cashew variety to grow and fruit.

Conclusion

Getting the profits from cashews requires patience as it provides varieties of products with economic value. The use of improved varieties offers a new pattern of getting better produce, which has higher yield and better nut quality. The most popular varieties are listed above, and more advanced nuts are yet to come.

You can learn more about the economic value of modern cashew farming by clicking on cashew farming