Skip to content
Research Article Open access CC BY 4.0

Cashew Production and Breeding in 5 West African Countries

Babatunde, Olaitan P., Adeigbe, Oluwayemisi O., Sobowale, Olalekan I., Muyiwa, Anna A., Balogun, Shamsudeen T.

Journal of Scientific Research and Reports · pp. 28–39 · Published 1 May 2023

10.9734/jsrr/2023/v29i51745

Abstract

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) Is an evergreen perennial tree crop that produce hard greyish nut enclosing a white nutritious kernel. The kernel is one of the major edible nuts or snacks with increasing global demand. The world's largest and most active cashew production region is in West Africa; where Cote d’ivoire, Nigeria, Benin, Guinea-bissau and Ghana top the list of countries where it thrives best. Since 2014, cashew has become the second-main crop after cocoa in terms of export value, in these countries. It is one of the essential agricultural commodities that have significantly boosted the continent of Africa's GDP, foreign exchange profits, and overall worth due to the rising demand for raw cashew nuts. Cote d'ivoire has profited from a few research and development programs in nut quality control. Efforts are on to enhance the peel-ability of Nigerian cashews and to produce improved planting material with the help of private sector investment. Cashew cultivars development of Guinea-bissau has not made significant progress, due to few resources available for doing research. In Ghana, there are efforts to increase the genetic diversity of cashews, and in Benin, numerous farmers have reported inadequate output from their cashew fields. Narrow genetic diversity has been reported in west African cashew gene pools. Low productivity, poor nut quality, infestation of pests and diseases, poor funding, and other factors continue to limit cashew production in West Africa. Improvement in nut yield, nut quality, and broadening of cashew genetic base is important to the sustainability of the region’s cashew sector. This paper provides an overview of current status of cashew production and breeding in the top five cashew producing countries of West African; the challenges, and opportunities for future improvement.

Cashew breeding West Africa narrow genetic base

Cited by 29

Potential Contributions of Cashew Apple Juice to Nutrition, Medicine and Bioethanol Generation: An Outlook

Lewis Atugonza Mtashobya, Shedrack Thomas Mgeni, Jovine Kamuhabwa Emmanuel · Natural Product Communications · 2025

Adoption of climate-smart agriculture among smallholder cashew farmers in Jaman North, Ghana: Interventions, determinants, and barriers

Frank Baffour-Ata, Lawrence Guodaar, Winifred Ayinpogbilla Atiah · World Development Sustainability · 2025

Plantation Crops and Products

Aashika Ashok, Rudragoud Policegoudra, OP Chauhan · Fruits and Vegetables Technologies · 2025

Deep eutectic solvent and caustic pretreatment strategies for cashew apple bagasse: A comprehensive review

Fatai Alade Aderibigbe, Raheez Babatunde Abdulafeez, Harvis Bamidele Saka · Biomass and Bioenergy · 2026

Graft success and seedling growth responses of cashew (Anacardium occidentalis) to three concentrations of Indole Butyric Acid (IBA) and scion types

Bright Osei Poku, Ben Kwaku Branoh Banful, Irene Akua Idun · International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology · 2025

Natural Resource Scarcity and its Implication for Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Burkina Faso

Tog-Noma Patricia Emma Bontogho · Herder-Farmer Conflicts in Africa · 2025

Insights into the cashew production system in Guinea-Bissau: implications for agroecosystem sustainability

Paola Sierra-Baquero, Sílvia Catarino, Gonçalo João Costa · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2024

Optimization for improved biomethane yield from cashew nut hulls through response surface methodology

Mahamadi Nikiema, Marius K. Somda, Joseph B. Sawadogo · Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery · 2024

Showing 13 of 29 known citations — external sources report more than can currently be individually listed.

Article metrics

Real usage data collected on this platform.

41

Page views

0

PDF downloads

7

Outbound clicks

29

Citations

Views over time

Views by country

Approximate, from request IP at view time — not citizenship or institution. Countries with fewer than 5 views are grouped as "Other".

Traffic sources

Referring site, by host.

Views and downloads exclude known bots/crawlers. Citations combines this platform's own DOI-resolved index with each external source's own reported total — see Cited by above for individually listed citing works. Last refreshed 0 seconds ago.