Guinea Bissau is world’s fourth-largest producer of cashew nuts

The president of the National Cashew Agency (ANCA) in Guinea Bissau, Henrique Mendes, said the country is the fourth-largest producer of cashew nuts after India, Ivory Coast and Vietnam.

Speaking to Portuguese news agency Lusa, Henrique Mendes also said that annual production of cashews in Guinea Bissau was about 220.000 tons, of which between 60,000 and 70,000 are illegally sold through Senegal whilst the rest is sold through official channels to India.

Mendes noted that Guinea Bissau’s cashews are organic, produced in orchards and have no need of pesticides or insecticides, which makes them far more valuable than those that use chemicals in the production process.

He said that the Guinea Bissau’s cashews are the best in the world and noted that they were the only cashews in the world that can be harvested, processed and consumed in the same year.

The president of ANCA also noted the “geographical position” of Guinea-Bissau in relation to Europe, which is the world’s second-largest buyer of cashews after the United States and noted that it should take advantage of this location to increase the product’s international profile. (macauhub/GW)