Introduction

The cashew originates from North East Brazil. In the 16th century, Portuguese colonists took the cashew tree via Europe to India and East Africa, where farmers planted the tree to stop erosion. Cashew trees only grow in areas where it rains less than 30-50 centimetres per year. It is mainly cultivated in Vietnam, Nigeria and India.

Production chain

Workers collect the cashew nuts from the ground. After fifty minutes of steaming and two days of drying, the nuts are peeled. Because the oil in the peel irritates the skin, protective gloves are used. The nuts are then salted and roasted in their countries of origin and then exported around the world.

Problems

In India, it is common for children under the age of 12 years to be found working on cashew farms. It has been estimated that in the state of Assam in India, 95,000 child workers are employed in cashew plantations. Working conditions in the cashew sector are considered quite poor and some workers get permanent scars on their hands due to the corrosive acids produced by the nuts when shelled. Job opportunities in the cashew sector are often discriminative towards women. Almost all cashew producers are smallholders (especially in Africa) and have little or no access to crop credit and medium term credit. This makes it difficult to invest in their own cashew production, and it makes them unable to purchase agro-chemicals to fight crop disease and limits the possibility to hire labour to rehabilitate farm and facilities. There are fair-trade certified and organic certified cashew nuts on the market, which are produced in Vietnam, Burkina Faso and El Salvador, among other countries.

Priority issues

In the cashew sector, Fairfood International has identified the following priority issues:

Priority issues	Production stage
Lack of Access to Financial Services	Processing
Insufficient Market-related Infrastructures	Processing
Corruption	Whole chain
Discrimination	Processing
Insufficient income and income insecurity	Processing
Unhealthy and unsafe working conditions	Processing
Child labour	Production

*Brand Owners are required to cover a minimum number of four out of seven of the priority issues.

Solutions

The guide below shows certification schemes whose standards indicate a match with some or all of Fairfood's priority issues for this sector. To learn more about any of the schemes, click on their logo.

Naturland	Ecocert Fairtrade	Fairtrade	Global Gap
Production	Entire chain	Entire chain	Production

Did you know...

Ripe cashews automatically fall from the trees.
The cashew nut is native to northeastern Brazil. In the mid-to-late 1500s, Portuguese traders and explorers introduced the cashew tree to India and to the east coast of Africa.

Most important export countries

Cote d’Ivoire
India
Vietnam
Guinea-Bissau
Indonesia

Most important production countries

Vietnam
Nigeria
India
Brazil
Indonesia