Ghana’s Cashew Apples: From Discard to New Revenue Source

Sunyani, Ghana – During harvest season in Ghana’s cashew-growing regions, the ground beneath the trees often tells a familiar story. While farmers carefully collect cashew nuts to sell to traders, the fleshy fruit attached to the nut is usually left behind. Within hours, the fruit begins to spoil, turning potential crop value into waste.

Ghana is one of Africa’s leading cashew producers, harvesting about 250,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts annually. Cashew trees also yield more fruit than nuts, but according to industry officials, most of that fruit is never processed or marketed.

For decades, the cashew apple has remained largely outside the market economy. Farmers have few buyers for the fruit, and a lack of nearby processing facilities makes transportation before spoilage difficult. Now, researchers, farmers, and industry leaders believe this overlooked fruit could become a new income source for rural communities—if Ghana builds the right collection, processing, and marketing infrastructure.

From Waste to Value

For Francisca Aba Ansah, the opportunity became clear after field surveys revealed the scale of cashew apple waste. She is a post-harvest food scientist at the CSIR Food Research Institute and leads the MA-CASH project, a research initiative focused on expanding value from cashew production.

“MA-CASH stands for Maximizing the Advantages of Cashew for Sustainable Youth Development in Africa,” Ansah told Al Jazeera. “The project started by looking at the level of waste in the growing areas and the existing processing options.”

Working with farming communities, researchers have developed products including juice, juice blends, sausages, bagels, and other foods made from cashew apples. One of the biggest challenges is the fruit’s high tannin content, which affects taste and consumer acceptance.

“The cashew apple has a high tannin content, so we have done a lot of research to reduce tannins and minimize the anti-nutritional impact when people consume the products,” she said.

An even larger barrier is the fruit’s short shelf life. Fresh cashew apples can spoil within 24 hours of harvest, making transport from farms to processing centers difficult.

“When you harvest the cashew apple, within 24 hours it will go bad,” she said. “We have developed technology that allows farmers to keep the fruit for up to six days before transporting it to a processing center. Once it gets there, the fruit can be stored cold for a whole year for production.”

The preservation technology has been tested through a pilot operation within the project and could make commercial collection and processing feasible for the first time in many cashew-growing communities. The project is also exploring off-season income opportunities, including beekeeping under cashew plantations.

“In the off-season, when we are not working there, farmers can keep bees,” she said. “The honey from cashew flowers is of good quality, so farmers can still maintain their business.”

Beyond the Nut

For some farmers, the idea of creating value from cashew apples is already moving from possibility to reality. Samuel Nortey Adumoah has experimented with turning the fruit into pito, a traditional drink, as well as wine and other beverages.

Like many farmers, he once saw cashew apples as mere byproducts. Now he believes they could become a significant source of income. “Cashew drinks have a big market potential,” Adumoah told Al Jazeera. “I call on investors to come into the sector to support us because it is very profitable.”

His experience reflects both the promise and the challenge of building a new industry. Farmers can produce goods, but scaling up requires investment, infrastructure, and reliable market connections.

The Missing Supply Chain

Raphael Godlove Ahenu, national coordinator of Cashew Watch Ghana, said many farmers still need support to understand economic possibilities beyond the nut. The organization has worked with farmers, particularly in the Bono region, to promote value addition and encourage communities to explore processing opportunities.

“Over the past two years, we have gathered farmers into groups and educated them on how to process cashew into fruit juice and other products, in addition to selling nuts to foreign companies,” Ahenu said.

But he warned that processing facilities alone will not guarantee success. “This is not the first time a cashew processing factory has been established. Some private companies have built factories, but unfortunately many have struggled or gone bankrupt because they could not secure enough supply from farmers.”

Many farmers rely on advance financing from exporters serving major markets like India and Vietnam, which often determines where their produce is sold. “Most of the time, foreign buyers give farmers small loans during the off-season. Before the cashew season arrives, farmers have already taken the money and are compelled to sell to these buyers,” he said. Without alternative financing, farmers may struggle to join new value chains even as opportunities emerge.

Creating Demand

Financial experts believe processing cashew apples could generate additional revenue and strengthen farmers’ access to credit. Aaron Owusu Nketia, a financial advisor and loan officer working with cashew farmers in the Bono region, argues that local processing could improve confidence among farmers and lenders.

“If the government establishes processing plants to reuse cashew apples, that will help farmers get additional revenue to pay off loans and encourage banks to lend more to farmers,” Nketia told Al Jazeera.

But building an industry requires more than producing new goods. Cashew apple juice and other products must compete with existing beverages and convince consumers that a fruit once considered waste has commercial value.

For Robert Abongo, a teacher and community support activist working with farmers in Sekyeredumasi in the Ashanti region, awareness remains a major challenge. “Most farmers rely only on cashew nuts. The government must strengthen education on value addition so that farmers are informed and plan with the fruit in mind instead of just the nut,” he said.

A Strategic Resource

Ghana’s government believes cashew apple processing could become part of a broader agricultural transformation agenda. Andrews Osei Okrah, CEO of the Tree Crops Development Authority, said the fruit is increasingly recognized not just as an agricultural byproduct.

“Once regarded as a byproduct, cashew apple is now a strategic economic resource with huge potential to drive agro-industrialization, create jobs, improve rural livelihoods, and contribute to Ghana’s economic growth,” Osei Okrah told Al Jazeera.

Ghana has the opportunity now, but focus on implementation is critical, said John Y. Kupagme, a researcher and head of agriculture at the African Chamber of Content Producers. “The policy framework is a solid foundation. What is needed now is coordinated action and sustained investment,” Kupagme told Al Jazeera.

The Next Harvest

The push to develop a cashew apple economy comes as Ghana seeks to diversify its agricultural income. For years, Ghanaian cashew farmers measured the value of their harvest by the number of nuts they carried away. Now, they are beginning to look back at the fruit they once left behind.

As the new harvest season approaches, cashew apples will again fall beneath the trees. The question is whether they will be left to rot, or collected, processed, and sold as the crop Ghana has long overlooked.

“We have the fruit. We have the ideas. We just need the investment to make it happen,” Ahenu said.