OUR VALUE CHAIN

GHANA

Ghana means “Warrior King” in the native language Soninke, is located in West Africa along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Cashew cultivation in Ghana started in the 1960’s with sporadic plantings in the Central and Greater Accra Regions and later spread to the Brong-Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. The interest in cashew cultivation was rekindled with the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1983, when cashew was identified as one of the major non-traditional crops to be developed as part of Government’s efforts to diversify the country’s export base. Cashew is the leading non-traditional export revenue earner in the country. Undoubtedly, the cashew value chain brings a wide range of opportunities from production, through processing to the export of raw nuts.

Direct Procurement Programme in Ghana

Direct Procurement Programme is an initiative where our expert team of buyers supervises all procurement and quality-related activities at the origin. We began our Direct Procurement Programme in Ghana in 2005 by setting up our first purchasing centre in Sampa, a town in the Brong-Ahafo region bordering Côte d’Ivoire. This was followed by establishing additional purchasing centres, procurement and shipping infrastructures in Techiman located in East Bono Region, a leading market town in South Ghana and in Tema, the port city of Ghana.

“Alphonsa is one of the largest direct procurers of raw cashew (on actual user basis) at the farm-gate level in Ghana.”

Cashew growing regions in Ghana

Cashew grows in seven out of the ten regions of Ghana, although it is mostly found in the Brong Ahafo and the Northern Regions. Around 300,000 farmers are directly engaged in cashew cultivation, generating a chain of ancillary employment for about 200,000 people who work as buying agents and dealers, transporters, retailers etc.