A million new cashew trees for Kenya

Aiming to revive the industry that collapsed nearly three decades ago, this project will give 15,000 small-scale farmers the opportunity to produce organic cashew and sesame for export markets.

As part of the new project, Ten Senses Africa (TSA) and Farm Africa will help establish three cashew seedling nurseries, help farmers gain FairTrade and organic certification, offer training in the distribution of improved varieties of cashew and sesame seedlings and seeds and post-harvest storage of food crops, and build the farmers’ links to market. The project will be implemented in the counties of Lamu, Kilifi, and Kwale on the Kenyan coast.

TSA will then buy the cashew nuts directly from farmers and then process them in Kilifi region.

Background:

The agricultural sector employs more than 70 percent of Kenya's rural people and is responsible for 26 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

This first-ever joint international development project of the Visegrad Group countries – Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland – is supported by the European Union under the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa and implemented by the Slovak Agency for International Development Cooperation (SlovakAid).