The structuring of Burkina Faso's cashew industry continues. The 2020 cashew marketing campaign in the land of honest men began on Saturday, February 29, in Orodara, under the theme "Sustainable Development of the Cashew Industry in Burkina Faso: Challenges and Prospects of Regulation" with a farmgate price set at 330 CFA francs per kilogram. The government intends to use this campaign to clean up the national market, ensure product quality, and structure the country's cashew industry, according to a press release from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Handicrafts.

First, the government intends to use the money collected between 2018 and January 6, 2020, to consolidate the sector. This involves a levy on raw cashew nut exports of around FCFA 25/kg, which brought in nearly FCFA 5.7 billion (€8.7 million). Second, thanks to the money collected, the State set up the Burkinabe Cashew Council (CBA) - operational since October 30 - this is a public economic institution intended to support stakeholders in the sector, and intended to structure the country's cashew sector (Read: Cashew: creation of the Burkinabe Cashew Council in Burkina Faso). Cashew: creation of the Burkinabe Cashew Council in Burkina Faso).

"In terms of regulation, I can assure you that things will change this year. Those who engage in farm-gate purchasing and who do not comply with trade regulations will be tracked down and held accountable for their actions," Minister of Commerce Harouna Kaboré told LeFaso.net. Indeed, this will be the third point: a mobile brigade for economic control and fraud repression (BMCRF) will be responsible for ensuring compliance with economic regulations and is asking everyone to help the hundred or so agents present on the ground by calling the Ouagadougou toll-free number (80 00 11 84/85) or the Bobo-Dioulasso number (80 00 11 86), available 24/7.

Cashew is Burkina Faso's third largest agricultural export (after cotton and sesame). It is therefore a product with strong economic potential, generating FCFA 117.11 billion (€178 million) in 2018 compared to FCFA 99.56 billion (€151.5 million) in 2017. Each year, 45,000 households produce nearly 100,000 tonnes (t) of cashew on 255,000 hectares (ha). More precisely, production reached 95,000 tonnes in 2019, an increase of 11.8% compared to 2018. While processing is still slow, it is progressing. From 5,000 tonnes in 2017, it climbed to 9,000 tonnes in 2019. In addition, it employs nearly 11,000 direct jobs, 92% of which are women.