ACA News

ACA Secretariat Welcomes Deputy Managing Director Leonard Garden

 

Leonard Garden has been named Deputy Managing Director of ACA, marking an important leadership transition at the organization. Garden will be working alongside current Managing Director Christian Dahm through June, when he will assume full MD responsibilities after the official handover takes place.

As only the second Managing Director since ACA’s founding in 2005, Garden was hired after an extensive search and evaluation process by the Executive Committee and Advisory Board. He was formally introduced to these governing bodies at their March meeting in Accra.

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Ghana Government commits to doubling Raw Cashew Nut Production by 2016

The cashew industry in Ghana has attracted the attention of the government, thanks to efforts by the Ghana Cashew Industry Association. In a meeting with Ghana’s new Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, a delegation representing the Ghana Cashew Industry Association explained the benefits of cashew to the Ghanaian economy.

The Association’s goal of garnering the minister’s support was successful – Mr. Iddrisu committed to providing technical and financial support that aims to double current production levels by 2016. The Ghanaian government estimates current...

Safe, Sustainable, and Socially Responsible - Mim Cashew, a Seal Success Story

Pick, pull, plop. Pick, pull, plop. This is the sound of cashew nuts being plucked from fallen apples scattering the ground of Mim Cashew. Margaret and Fusenia sit in the dappled shade under one of thousands of cashew trees on the farm, beginning the process that will eventually result in ACA Seal-certified cashew reaching international marketplaces.

Producing export-...

Burkina Faso Launches 2013 Cashew Season

The launch of the cashew season in Burkina Faso this week took place at the premises of ANATRANS factory in Bobo-Dioulasso on the 12th of March, 2013.

MC for the day, Mohammed Ouedraogo addressing the...

First Guinean Cashew Processor Signs Up for ACA Seal Program after Initiating Guinean Cashew Exports to US

"The work that still needs to be done is less than what we have accomplished already, I am certain we will reach the next level," said El Hadji Mamadou Bary of SOPELGUI, after he signed up his company for the ACA Quality and Sustainability Seal Program.

SOPELGUI is Guinea’s first cashew processor. The Indian-Guinean joint venture began operating in 2012 and has since exported the first cashew kernels from Guinea, most of which to an ACA founding member based in the US.

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Guinean Cashew Alliance Launched

Guinean cashew farmers, processors and traders have joined forces to develop the potential of the cashew industry for the country’s economy. On February 25, 2013, the Guinean Cashew Alliance (l'Alliance Guinéenne de l'Anacarde) was launched in Conakry at an event attended by more than 50 participants from industry and government. With a growing production and processing industry, cashew contributes to the incomes of 50,000-80,000 people in rural Guinea. 

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ACA Seal Processors on the Map

The ACA Quality & Sustainability Seal is an industry-supported mark that signals the processor’s compliance with international food safety, quality, and labor standards.  The expanding implementation of the ACA Seal in East and West Africa indicates the program’s success across ACA member countries. Six processors in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Nigeria, Togo and Tanzania signed up for the program in 2012, bringing the Seal processing capacity to 18-25,500MT of RCN. Check out the map below to see the members of the ACA Seal program:

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ACA Seal to Facilitate Compliance with New US Food Safety Laws

International food safety regulations are beginning to require serious consideration by exporters of food to the United States. New regulations will have concrete impacts on cashew farmers, processors, and buyers, as the United States moves to enforce the new FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, the most expansive reform of food safety laws in over 70 years. On January 4, 2013 The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced major proposed regulations of the FSMA, which was passed in January 2011 by President Barack Obama. They contain preventative controls that pertain to good...

Safe, Sustainable, and Socially Responsible - Mim Cashew, a Seal Success Story

Pick, pull, plop. Pick, pull, plop. This is the sound of cashew nuts being plucked from fallen apples scattering the ground of Mim Cashew. Margaret and Fusenia sit in the dappled shade under one of thousands of cashew trees on the farm, beginning the process that will eventually result in ACA Seal-certified cashew reaching international marketplaces.

Producing export-...

Cashew plantations, beekeeping and a new livelihood

by Samantha Mensah, ACi

ACi trained farmers have discovered a new way to increase their income.

With working to increase farmer income within the cashew sectors of its 5 project countries, remaining one of the key aims of the African Cashew initiative, recognition of a new, lucrative venture for cashew farmers is exciting and promising.

For a growing number of entrepreneurial farmers in Benin and Ghana, keeping bees on their cashew...

African Cashew Alliance: Growing the cashew industry

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