Call for submission of Research Studies on Cashew and Related Issues: 18th ACA Cashew Conference & Expo

Background

The African Cashew Alliance (ACA) provides a platform for researchers studying cashews and related subjects to present their findings at the annual ACA Annual Cashew Conference & Expo. This is because the ACA recognizes the critical role that researchers play in building a sustainable African cashew industry. Due in part to the many years of excellent research on cashew farming, Africa currently produces around 60% of the world’s raw cashew nuts (RCNs).

The 18^th edition of the ACA Annual Cashew Conference & Expo will be held in Benin from the 17th to the 19th September 2024 under the theme: “Building Capacities for a Sustainable African Cashew Industry.” 

As part of this year's conference, the ACA and the Consultative International Cashew Council (CICC) are calling on cashew researchers from both the public and private sectors to submit the abstracts of their most recent studies to be considered for inclusion of the full papers in the third publication of the Innovations in Cashew Production: https://www.africancashewalliance.com/sites/default/files/documents/innovations_in_cashew_production_a4_2023_en_web.pdf

Thematic areas

Studies should be on at least one of the following thematic areas:

Thematic area 01: Cashew cultivation: Technological practices and approaches for sustainable RCN production
• Cashew genomics, breeding, and plant function
• Integrated pest and disease management
• Soil fertility management and irrigation
• Enhancing agricultural production techniques

Thematic area 02: Cashew and climate change: Resilient strategies for sustainable production and its socio-economic impact
• Cashew genetic resources and resilience to climate change
• Impact of climate change on cashew farming across different ecological systems
• Reaforestation/ Afforestation programmes
• Climate information and surveillance systems
• Renewable energy and carbon sequestration in cashew farming
• Food security and nutritional values of cashew nuts
• Cashew nut production and improving the livelihood of cashew producers

Thematic area 03: Innovations to support cashew RCN and apple processing, Trading, and marketing.
• Innovative processing methods and transformation processes
• Traceability systems
• Food safety compliance systems (pesticides and other contaminants)
• Valorisation of nutritional attributes of cashew products
• Valorisation of cashew by-products for food and non-food products
• Digital applications in cashew nut production.
• Access to finance and micro-credit, cashew nut crop insurance. 

Guidelines for the Submission of Abstracts

• Abstracts should be submitted in English or French via the email researchpapers@africancashewalliance.com. After submitting your abstract, you will receive a confirmation e-mail.
• Abstracts should address one of the thematic areas of the ACA Conference presented above. Abstracts that are most closely aligned with the main theme and topics of the conference will be selected.
• Abstracts should be limited to a maximum of 400 words.
• Notification of acceptance of all selected abstracts will be sent to the researchers, who will be required to submit full papers for review.
• After reviewing your submitted full paper, the Scientific/Technical Committee will decide whether it is selected for inclusion in the third publication of the Innovations in Cashew Production which will be made available at the Benin Conference and published on ACA's website. 

Deadlines

• The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 20^th May 2024.
• Researchers whose abstracts are selected will have until 4^th July 2024 to submit full papers.