The cooperation is to complement technical contributions from the three countries and to apply specific knowledge, skills and technologies to the cashew sector in Ghana. It aims at accelerating research on high-quality cashew varieties that are tolerant to major diseases and pests and well adapted to local conditions. In the area of processing technologies, the project is directed to promote cashew apple processing technologies and marketing to increase the competitiveness of the value addition segment in the cashew value chain.

The Trilateral Cooperation Project offers Ghana an opportunity to tap into the potentials of the cashew market. It is targeted to assist the country with economic and rural development through job creation, income generation, food security, climate change mitigation and strengthening of agricultural production systems.

About the agreement

On 11 October 2017, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Ghana signed the Trilateral Cooperation Project Proposal between Ghana, Brazil and Germany as the representative of the beneficiary third country, Ghana.

Participating dignitaries at the signing were the Brazilian representatives (the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Ambassador of Brazil to Ghana), the German representatives (The Ambassador of Germany to Ghana and the Head of Cooperation) and Ghana representative (Minister for Food and Agriculture and the Crop Service Director).

The technical implementing institutions are the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Cooperation (Embrapa) as well as GIZ through the Competitive Cashew initiative (ComCashew). Partners of this cooperation are the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) as well as the African Cashew Alliance (ACA).

About the implementing institutions

Brazilian Agricultural Research Cooperation

Embrapa is a state-owned company affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, which is devoted to pure and applied research on agriculture. The corporation conducts agricultural research on many topics including livestock and crops. Embrapa’s mission is to provide feasible solutions for the sustainable development of Brazilian agribusiness through knowledge and technology generation and transfer. Embrapa Tropical Agroindustry has, among its key developments, several technologies for the cashew cultivation and cashew nut and by-product processing.

Ministry of Food and Agriculture, through the Crop Service Directorate

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture with its Cashew Development Project (CDP) funded by the African Development Bank provided support to farmers to improve on yield and quality nuts from 2002 to 2010. The CDP also supported the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to start a cashew improvement program. Currently, cashew is the leading non-traditional export product in Ghana, which contributes to about 54 % of export revenues.

The Competitive Cashew initiative (ComCashew)

ComCashew constitutes a new type of multi‐stakeholder partnership in development cooperation. The initiative is mainly funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for its third phase which started 1 May 2016. Private companies and government and donor agencies also support the Initiative. GIZ has been commissioned with the management of the project with Fairmatch Support as an implementing partner who provides consultation on technical issues and facilitates linkages between farmers and processors. ComCashew benefits from the diverse commercial and technical expertise of their private and public sector partners. Important cooperation partners in Ghana are the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and CRIG.

For more information

Please contact Ann-Christin Berger, Advisor for Sector Organisation at ComCashew: ann-christin.berger@giz.de