Investors are now eyeing cashew nut processing in Ghana as an opportunity to earn more money and create jobs. It turns out more and more people are going nuts over African cashew, and new processors with international standards are eager to get on board. 

A recent USAID report on West Africa's cashew industry shows it has assumed a new status as a major supplier of raw cashews, accounting for almost a third of the world’s cashew output. The report noted that the global trade of cashew nuts could do with increased tonnage from Africa if countries can comply with international trade standards such as quality and timeliness.

Global Trading, a nut and dried fruit broker from the Netherlands plans to seek partners with processing facilities in Ghana. The firm which buys processed cashews from Mozambique and sells them to clients in Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and the US, invested in a cashew processing factory in Benin two years ago.
 
Ghana’s cashew industry has for a long time exported raw nuts, earning US$21.06 million in 2007 on 38,300 metric tonnes. That is about to change with predictions that the country could increase revenue by 50% by processing raw nuts locally.

Cashew was originally grown in much of West Africa for reforestation and to prevent soil erosion.