A new agroforestry and climate resilience project has been launched in Sunyani West in the Bono Region, targeting cashew farmers with a comprehensive package of interventions designed to diversify incomes and build long-term environmental sustainability into one of Ghana’s most important agricultural zones.
The initiative, supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF), was launched through MIMSHACK Co-operative Cashew Farmers, Marketing Society Limited, one of the leading farmer organisations in the area.
Speaking at the launch, MIMSHACK Manager Amos Kwasi Bintir described the event as the starting point of a project built around three core pillars: agroforestry, alternative livelihoods, and value addition. He said the cooperative will establish a nursery to raise over 30,000 seedlings of high-value timber species, including Mahogany, Oframu, Cedrella, and Emire, which will be distributed to farmers to integrate into their existing cashew farms. The move is intended to diversify farm output, promote biodiversity, and create long-term financial assets for rural households.
Alongside the tree planting drive, the project will supply more than 70 beehives to cooperative members, establishing a beekeeping enterprise that provides a supplementary income stream while improving farm pollination, a factor directly linked to higher cashew yields.
The initiative also invests significantly in processing capability and climate knowledge. Farmers will receive training in climate-smart agriculture practices and be guided into value-added activities including the processing of cashew nuts and the conversion of cashew apples into juice, a largely untapped product that currently goes to waste on most Ghanaian farms.
“We have educated them so much on the internal control systems, the governance structure, and what they need for climate-smart agriculture practices,” Bintir said. “I believe now they understand the importance of agroforestry and the importance of adding value to the cashew they are farming.”
The launch comes at a pivotal moment for Ghana’s cashew sector. The country’s raw cashew nut output dropped sharply to approximately 161,000 metric tonnes in the 2024 season from 230,000 metric tonnes the year before, while the government has signalled that it will no longer accept raw cashew exports as the long-term model. President Mahama has called on investors to establish local processing capacity, a policy direction this FAO-backed initiative directly supports at the grassroots level.
