Obollo-Afor, the capital of Udenu Local Government Area in Enugu State, is well-known for producing cashew nuts, avocados, pears, plantains, bananas, and mangoes, among other things.
Cashew nut production has taken the community to a global scale.
People flock to Obollo-Afor from all over the world to purchase the item.
Consumers from Europe, America, Asia, and other African countries occasionally compete for Obollo-Afor’s cashew nuts.
From being something that locals like eating, cashew nuts have progressively evolved into an economic backbone for the people, with hundreds dependent partially or entirely on them for sustenance and survival.
Traditionally, they used it as both food and kola to entertain visitors. However, the tale has changed, and it now provides a source of income for many people.
Of all the enterprises in the area, the cashew nut business is thought to be the largest employer.
In addition to Obollo-Afor, cashew nuts may be found in Orba, Ibagwa, Igbo-Eze modern market, Oghe, and the 9th Mile Corner market in Enugu State.
As of 2016, Nigeria was the world’s sixth largest producer of raw cashew nuts, generating over 120,000 metric tons per year.
Today’s figure has climbed. According to Ezra Yakusak, CEO of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Nigeria shipped 315,677 metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts worth $252 million in 2022, representing for 5.24 percent of the country’s non-oil exports.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also revealed that in the first quarter of 2023, N27.1 billion of cashew nuts in the shell were exported, with the Republic of Vietnam topping the list, and N6.8 billion of cashew nuts shelled were exported.https://dailypost.ng/2023/10/16/nigeria-exports-n146bn-worth-of-cashew-in-first-half-of-2023/
The cashew nut market in Obollo has begun to blossom as early as 6:00 a.m. on Afor-market days, which occur every four days.
People bring raw cashew nuts from Benue and Kogi states, as well as the neighboring settlements of Amalla and Ezimo, both in the Udenu Local Government Area.
The amazing thing about the business is that before 8:00 a.m., the market has already become abandoned, so anyone passing through would have no idea that just a few moments ago, people were humming like bees in that location.
All of the buyers, sellers, and observers who had been hustling and bustling just seconds previously had dispersed.
After the day’s business was completed, the dealers would transport the raw items to the bakery, where they would de-husk and knot the finished products in small leather bags or measure them in bottles for sale.
“It is capable of generating foreign exchange in the millions of dollars if only our government would take interest in the business and develop it to a commercial level,” was how a civil servant, Kenneth Ugwu, expressed the spirit of cashew nut production in Obollo-Afor.
A DAILY POST research discovered that India’s cashew exports exceed $2.5 billion, while Vietnam generates up to $3 billion per year, primarily from processed cashew nuts.
This clearly shows that Nigeria would benefit from a well-articulated strategy to enhance cashew nut production in Obollo-Afor and other areas of Nigeria.
Mr. Ugwu described the cashew nut industry in the area as a very profitable company that employs hundreds of unemployed people directly and indirectly.
“Cashew nuts as a business have generated a significant amount of direct and indirect jobs in this portion of the world.
“It has produced indirect employment because many individuals now travel from various parts of the country to purchase the product and distribute it around the country. Some even export it overseas.
“Directly, the producers who planted these trees have used the revenues to feed their family. Some have even sent their children to university using the cashew money. “So you can see what it means for the people,” he explained.
Again, Ugwu’s employment generation philosophy is credible when combined with a 2014 study by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which estimated that a 20% increase in Nigeria’s processing level would result in more than 344,000 new jobs and an additional income of more than $75 million.
DAILY POST investigations also showed that government and non-governmental organizations, as well as various interest groups, have expressed interest in creating a cashew nut industry in the area to increase output and offer more work chances for the unemployed.
Although the people have yet to see any meaningful action from the government, they hope that the government will look into the potential of the business on the nation’s economy, especially as it affects employment for youths, particularly secondary school leavers and graduates.
While people wait for the government to build a large-scale cashew nut business so that processing raw cashew nuts into finished commodities is less stressful, some people are already working hard to lessen the complexities of processing.
Okechukwu Boniface, of Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, is one of these people.
According to him, he and his wife started the cashew nut company after completing an apprenticeship in another profession at Obollo Afor.
He said he quit his previous job when he saw the cashew nut company was thriving and profitable.
He stated: “There was no area for the ladies in the business to bake the cashew nut, which made it impossible for them to process the nuts. As a result, I decided to open a bakery where they could bake the nuts.
He buys and sells cashew nuts in addition to baking them.
After nearly five years of buying and selling cashew nuts, Boniface made the courageous decision to open a cashew nut bakery after contemplating the difficulties the ladies faced while processing the raw cashew nuts.
With only one year of mentorship and a little more than N1 million, he was able to construct one, where many women flock to bake the commodity before dehusking to obtain the finished product.
He said, “I learned how to bake from a friend from Taraba State.” I stayed with him for approximately a year before learning the craft thoroughly. I hired professionals to fix the bakery for me. It is capital-intensive; I spent more than N1 million to set it up.”
He explained how profitable the baking company is: “Cashew nuts are wrapped in black nylon leather bags, and each bag costs N100 to bake. The bakery is separated into three chambers, each holding roughly four bags. So, we put around 15 bags at a time, and it takes 10 to 15 minutes to bake.
When our correspondent visited the bakery, scores of women were sitting, patiently waiting their turn to bake the products before dehusking them and tying them in small leather bags or measuring them in bottles for sale.
A visit to the processing facility revealed our reporter to the grim truth of the business’s central and primary function in providing job options for hundreds of teenage girls in the neighborhood.
The site is a quadrilateral containing around 32 lock-up stores.
Inside each business, roughly five or six young girls, and sometimes middle-aged women, are busily dehusking cashew nuts, some wrapping them in small leather bags and others weighing them in bottles in preparation for sale.
Aside from the folks inside the shops, there are others doing the same thing down the corridor. According to the research, some of the females are still in secondary school, while others are secondary school leavers awaiting entrance to higher education institutions.
They are all laborers who are paid daily based on how many baked cashew nuts they can de-husk.
Those that tie them in little leather bags are likewise paid according on how many they can tie or measure into bottles.
Checks also found that the business operates all year round. Although sources showed that cashew nut production peaks between February and May each year, supplies of the product remain available from June to January, making processing a year-round activity.
According to Mrs. Oluchi Onah, President of the Ogechi Cashew Nut Packaging Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society in Chimaroke New Park, Obollo-Afor, about 2000 individuals work in the processing phase of manufacturing.
She stated, “The cashew nut business in Obollo-Afor has been thriving for some years now, and many individuals are involved in various elements of it.
“Some people bake, while others remove the shell and measure them into sellable quantities before tying them in leather bags.
“We have more than 2000 people who are engaged in de-husking the baked nuts and tying them into small leather bags or measuring them into bottles for sale.”
She emphasized that, as profitable as the business appeared, it must only be conducted in Obollo-Afor.
“This is a business that can support a family. It supplies the family with a basic income to ensure their existence. In other words, someone can provide for his or her family’s necessities by running a business like any other.
“The only distinction between this business and others is that it is only available in Obollo-Afor, as opposed to other enterprises that may be found elsewhere.
“So, if you want to get into the industry, you must come down to Obollo-Afor. People come from all across the country, particularly from major cities such as Lagos, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Onitisha, Benin, and Ibadan, among others, to purchase and resell the goods. People travel from outside Nigeria to purchase it.
“For example, certain white people come from time to time to buy the stuff and then sell it in their home nations. So, it’s a successful business,” she explained.
Although Obollo-Afor looks to be the lone location where the industry grows, everything that is marketed there is not exclusively produced there. They receive supplies from Obollo-Afor, Ezimo, and Amalla in Udenu LGA, as well as from other communities in Benue and Kogi states.
“After processing it here, we distribute it to people all around the world. We measure in bottles and little white leather bags. The price of leather bags ranges from N100 to N1,000. However, the pricing for bottles starts at N2400 here.
“A bag of uncooked cashew nuts sells for N70,000 to N75,000. It is determined by the bag’s quantity. A 100kg bag costs N70,000, while 120kg or 130kg can cost N75,000 or more, depending on the season. The harvest time runs from February to May, which is when you may acquire a bag for the pricing listed above.
“That is also determined by the seasonal production. If the harvest is plentiful, the price will be reasonable; if the harvest is scarce, it will be expensive. However, between June and January, the product is still available, although it is more expensive than during the harvest season, which runs from February to May.
“For example, it is rare this year due to a weak harvest and a high demand from white people. “When they come, they buy in bulk,” Mrs. Onah explained.
Checks found that in one week, a person may process three or four bags, depending on the quantity of available workers.
One person could have five or more employees. Workers are compensated based on the quantity processed every day.
For example, a person who de-husks a little plastic container known as a ‘painter’ is paid N300. However, a person who knots 15 pieces of the white leather bag gets given N150.
Challenges
However, Mrs. Onah stated that the firm is not without its hurdles. She stated that one of the primary issues they face in business is a lack of packing facilities. We do not have a name label.
“After all the trouble of baking, dehusking, bottling, and tying, people who come from the cities to buy from us would package them with a label and sell them for nearly double the sum we charged them.
“Secondly, we do not have enough processing machines. Sometimes one can spend four or more hours at a bakery waiting for their turn to bake, but if there are adequate processing machinery, such man-hours will not be wasted.
“Third, purchasers defer payment until a later date; they purchase on credit. Finally, the wet season is our albatross; the market is always slow during the rainy season but quite active during the dry season.”
Despite the hurdles, she recognized that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.
“It’s a wealthy venture. It gives career chances for young females who have completed secondary school and are awaiting entrance to higher educational institutions.
“We also hire young females who are still in secondary school during vacation and pay them for their necessities. But only girls perform the work; lads aren’t interested.
“So, it employs many young females as well as widows who have no one to care for them and their children. They stay in business, feed their families, and educate their children in school.
“It is something the government must encourage because thousands of people rely on it to survive. So, we want the government to invest in it by giving all of the required equipment and facilities to make doing business easier and more simple for us,” she stated.
Workers speak.
Ngozi Eze, a secondary school dropout, has been wrapping cashew nuts in small white leather bags for almost eight years, earning enough money to support herself.
She began doing the work while still in high school.
When our correspondent encountered her on the job at the processing plant, she gladly opened up, saying, “I finished secondary school a few years ago, but I’ve been tying cashew nuts in small leather bags for over eight years.”
“I started doing it when I was still in secondary school. I don’t do it every day; instead, I do it when I have the energy.
“If I tie 30 pieces, I receive N150. On average, I can earn up to N2000 every day.
“Sometimes I’ll do it all seven days a week. At other times, I was only able to work five or six days. It’s a good business because it covers my expenses. I do not have to rely on a man to meet my financial needs. “I thank God for that.”
Mrs. Michael Simeon is another woman who works in the cashew nut tying and marketing industry. She is a mother of three and has been in the industry for over three years, which has helped her to care for her family.
She said, “I tie while selling. The business is excellent because it creates income and keeps one very occupied.
“The price per bag varies depending on the season, but right now, a small black leather bag with three painters costs N28,000.”
“I buy five to four painters per week. I have three children, and the business has been able to provide for them. I’ve been in the company for almost three years now.”
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