Ghana’s search for an agricultural export crop capable of reducing its dependence on cocoa may already be taking shape in the cashew orchards of the country’s middle and northern belts.
Cashew nuts generated GH¢7.29 billion in exports in 2025, making the crop Ghana’s third-largest food export and fifth-largest individual export commodity, behind gold, cocoa beans, crude petroleum and cocoa paste.
Cocoa beans alone generated GH¢34.43 billion, almost five times the value of cashew exports. But the gap also shows why cashew is becoming difficult to ignore as Ghana looks for a broader agricultural export base.
Another indication of the crop’s potential is Ghana’s existing production base, which has already created a foothold in international export markets. Data shows that more than 300,000 farmers are directly involved in cashew cultivation, while about 200,000 additional people work as buying agents, dealers, transporters and retailers. Ghana is estimated to export about 180,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts a year, generating roughly US$300 million in export revenue.
Much of that trade, however, ends before the highest-value stages of the supply chain.
India and Vietnam are among the major destinations for Ghanaian raw cashew, according to trade-shipment data. Those markets have established processing industries that turn raw nuts into kernels and finished products for consumers around the world.
That leaves Ghana capturing a relatively small portion of the value created after the crop leaves the farm.
The government now wants to change that model. President John Mahama said in February that Ghana would no longer export raw cashew and would instead promote local processing, with a target of processing between 50% and 60% of production annually. The policy is expected to be supported by agro-industrial parks, incentives for private processors and stronger regulation through the Tree Crops Development Authority.
A larger domestic processing industry would create demand for factories, sorting and grading equipment, packaging, warehousing, logistics, energy, finance and export services. It would also create opportunities to produce cashew kernels, roasted and packaged nuts, oils and other derivatives rather than shipping most of the economic value abroad.
The scale of the existing market provides a base for that expansion. Ghana’s cashew exports alone were worth GH¢7.29 billion in 2025, representing 9.2% of the country’s food exports. The crop ranked behind only cocoa products among food exports, while the broader food-export basket grew significantly during the year.
There is also a second source of value that remains largely underdeveloped: the cashew apple.
A 2025 study under the MA-CASH project found that Ghana produced about 1.61 million tonnes of cashew apples in 2024, with an estimated 90% going to waste because of inadequate processing infrastructure. That waste represents a potential market for juice, beverages and other processed products if the necessary collection and processing systems are established.
The commercial case, therefore, extends beyond the nut itself.
Ghana has already begun putting some of the foundations in place. The government set a minimum producer price of GH¢12 per kilogram for raw cashew for the 2025/26 crop season, based partly on an indicative free-on-board price of US$1,400 per tonne and prevailing exchange-rate conditions. The pricing framework is intended to give farmers greater certainty while bringing buyers, processors and exporters into a more structured market.
But a higher producer price alone will not create a competitive cashew industry.
The more difficult challenge is ensuring that processors can obtain sufficient raw nuts at competitive prices while farmers have access to improved planting materials, extension services, finance and reliable markets. Processing plants also require dependable electricity, working capital and export infrastructure.
Other African producers illustrate the gap Ghana could fill. Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s leading cashew producer, has faced persistent challenges getting local processors to compete with Asian buyers for raw nuts. Reports highlight the pressure from Asian competition, pointing to a wider gap in Africa’s cashew value chain that Ghana could target through greater local processing.
Ghana, therefore, cannot simply restrict raw exports and assume processing will follow. The economics must make local processing attractive enough for private capital to enter the sector.
That is where the crop could become more important to Ghana’s industrialisation strategy.
Ghana’s 2025 trade data show that gold, cocoa and crude petroleum accounted for 85.9% of total exports, leaving the economy highly exposed to a small number of commodities. The Ghana Statistical Service has explicitly called for greater export diversification, value addition and investment in agro-processing to reduce that concentration.
Cashew offers one route into that diversification because the country is not starting from zero. It already has farmers, established export markets, traders and a growing production base.
At GH¢7.29 billion, cashew is not yet Ghana’s next cocoa. But if more of that value is retained locally through processing, packaging and branded exports, the crop could become something arguably more useful: a second agricultural export engine that creates foreign exchange while supporting manufacturing, rural employment and SMEs.
