18th ACA Annual Cashew Conference and Expo: Building Capacities for a Sustainable African Cashew Industry

The cashew world will gather in Cotonou, Benin from 17^th – 20^th September 2024 for the 18^th African Cashew Alliance (ACA) Annual Cashew Conference and Expo. Over 400 local and international cashew industry actors, and stakeholders are expected to participate in this year’s conference. The Conference will be held in partnership with IFA – Benin, the cashew Interprofession in Benin, and the Ministry of Trade of Benin with funding support from the European Union, the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Market Oriented value chains for jobs and growth in the ECOWAS region (GIZ/MOVE).

This will be Benin’s third time of hosting Africa’s biggest cashew event, and there couldn’t be a better time. The West African country, as part of its cashew development policy and 100% local cashew processing vision, has banned the export of raw cashew nuts (RCN). This policy has varied opinions among local and international actors and stakeholders. On one end, it is an audacious policy that presents the opportunity for the country to build its local processing capacity, incentivise local processors and encourage investments into establishing new processing facilities and ultimately create jobs and incomes. On the flip side, there are questions of whether a total ban is the best decision considering Benin currently does not have the capacity to process all its production, resulting in a growth in informal trades across land borders.

The theme for this year’s Conference, Building Capacities for a sustainable African Cashew Industry, presents a unique opportunity for industry experts, actors and stakeholders to delve deeper into policies such as Benin’s export ban, Cote d’Ivoire’s recent temporary export ban and whether indeed Africa is building the right capacity, especially in local processing to accelerate growth and sustainability. The opening plenary session on 18^th September 2024, will therefore focus on discussing the topic, Policies to promote Cashew processing in Africa: Are We Making Impact? This session promises to be riveting as it features several experts in sector organization and regulation.

Two other important sessions to watch out for are Plenary sessions 3 and 4, sponsored by the EU. Session 3, will discuss the topic, Addressing Human Rights Violations in the Cashew Value Chains - Which opportunities and challenges present the new EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)?  Plenary session 4 will also be on the topic, Promoting Environmental Sustainability in the Cashew Sector. These two sessions will highlight pertinent issues concerning EU regulations and human rights issues in the cashew industry.

This year’s Conference will also mark the celebration of 10 years of impactful capacity building through the Cashew Master Training Programme (MTP). Plenary session 7 will discuss the topic, MTP@ 10 years: Reinforcing the Cashew Learning Journey. There will also be cashew women’s and development partners’ meetings. Click here to read more on Conference program. 

This year, 30 organizations will be participating in the ACA Cashew Expo, including some of the biggest cashew machinery and equipment technology companies in the world, and very promising local cashew brands. Experience particularly, variety of cashew products locally processed in Africa. The ACA Business to business meeting is also returning strongly this year.  Interested Conference participants can pre-book a space in the B2B room for meetings during the session. Be part of the field visit to the Glo-Djigbè industrial zone where the government of Benin is partnering with the private sector to build several cashew processing facilities, some of which are already operational.

The 18^th ACA Annual Cashew Conference is the place to be this September. Join the cashew world in deliberating the future of the cashew industry, sharing knowledge and experiences while building strong business partnerships. Online registration is ongoing now. Visit ACA’s webpage to register now at the early bird rate. Limited exhibition booths available for interested organizations.