Cashew is BUSINESS!

I might have mentioned before that one of the big projects I'm working on in my village is helping all the old cashew growers establish an association, work on establishing best practices so they can gain a good reputation for their cashew nuts, and help them make more money in the long haul. This project so far is going really well. First of all, working with a bunch of old guys is cool. Makes me feel very integrated. But more importantly for the community as a whole, the association is really working. Cashew is a cash crop in The Gambia, and if you have a large cashew orchard you can make yourself as much money in one growing season as a teacher makes in the entire year in this country. Which is not very much, but if its comparable to a years salary, it's survivable. And it only takes about 3-4 months of work every year.

What I set out to do with the association was make them think about cashew from the business point of view, not just the farming side. Usually middle men come around and buy the unprocessed cashew nuts off of the farmers. This year, the association interviewed the four major cashew exporters in the country and decided to make a deal with one of them instead of selling to middle men. So now, they collectively get to pocket all the money that the middle men were taking for themselves. A pretty good bargain if you ask me.

It also means that as a group they are able to save money. The association takes 50 bhututs (that's maybe 2 cents or something equivalently small) from every kilo they sell and puts it in the group's savings account. By the end of the season, they'll probably have about 5,000 - 10,000 dalasis that they can use on their own development, like giving farmers loans to buy fences, etc.



This is Dembo and a boy from around town carrying his cashew into storage. One bag of cashew weighs about 50 kilos. A normal selling price is maybe 15 dalasis/kilo, so a farmer makes about 30 dollars from one of these bags. This year is lucky for the Gambia, because all the neighjboring countries had hot weather and their first harvest shriveled. One person's disaster is another's blessing, and due to the low supply Gambian farmers are raking it up. Right now they're selling for around 19 dalasis/kilo, which is the highest price I have ever heard of in this country.

Having an association also means more responsibility for guys like Dembo, our cashier. He handles huge stacks of money that are forwarded to us from the exporter, buying cashews from all the other men in the village and setting a bit aside for the association. He's keeping records, weighing cashews, keeping very busy. But it's working. Even when I'm not around to remind them, the group makes sure they're up to date on how much money has been spent, how much is left, and is keeping in touch with the buyer to learn about price changes. I feel like a proud mama.