Cashew kernels are mainly used for the snack market as a roasted and salted snack. The worldwide demand for this incredibly appetizing snack is growing at 7% for the past decade. Called “the King of the Nuts” this plantation crop has become one of the most important Cash crops from Africa.

West African countries of Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Nigeria and Benin together account for 40% of the world’s production and are the second largest producer of raw Cashew nuts in the world.

Cashew growing has improved the lives of small scale farmers in these countries significantly. The impact has transformed their lives so much that they now refer to their orchards as a place where “money grows on trees”.

The cashew seed, often simply called a cashew, is widely consumed. It is eaten on its own, used in recipes, or processed into cashew cheese or cashew butter. The cashew apple is a light reddish to yellow fruit, whose pulp can be processed into a sweet, astringent fruit astringent drink or distilled into liquor.

The shell of the cashew seed yields derivatives that can be used in many applications from lubricants to paints.