Africa-Press – Senegal. The acquisition of an industrial cashew nut processing unit is the dream of the women of Ndramé Pathé Diop, a village in the commune of Passy, in the department of Foundiougne (Fatick, west), to promote the cashew sector facing “enormous difficulties”.
« We lack partners to support and supervise us. We don’t have an industrial processing unit, so we work informally,” Aïda Ndiaye, a cashew nut processor, told APS. She is seeking state support to facilitate the processing of this seed, the “main activity” of the women of this village located not far from the town of Passy.
While waiting for the acquisition of this industrial unit, it invites women processors to organize themselves into economic interest groups (GIE) or cooperatives to break with the artisanal nature of their activity.
She points out that the village of Dramé Pathé Diop has enormous economic potential to exploit. If the cashew sector is valued, assures Aïda Ndiaye, it can become “a label for the processing of cashew nuts by the women of the village”. It is a profitable activity, she assures us, noting however that the cashew sector needs to be supervised and accompanied.
Serigne Diop, a cashew nut producer, agrees, recalling that the town of Passy is full of enormous untapped potential. The producers of the village experience “enormous difficulties” for the processing of cashew nuts, an activity that is still artisanal. It seeks support and supervision from the State.
Presenting himself as a development actor, he deplores the isolation of the village due to an impassable road, especially during the rainy season. According to him, this situation hinders the development of the cashew sector in the area.
Cashew nut processing, hard work
As soon as he enters Ndramé Pathé Diop, the visitor is greeted by the smell of acrid smoke of cashew nuts escaping from the houses of this village led by the marabout El hadji Mamadou Dramé. Everywhere in the village and even on its main arteries, women are busy processing cashew nuts.
Aged in her forties, Aïda Ndiaye indicates that it is “difficult work” which is done manually. You have to roast the seed or parboil it and remove the toxic oil that covers it, explains the women’s leader. Seated under a mango tree, her hands protected by black gloves, she holds a pestle intended to crack cashew nuts.
“We buy these cashews in Passy and sometimes in Sokone, in the weekly markets. The kilo can vary between 600 and 1000 FCFA. Once in the village, we share them among us women,” she says.
Cashew nut processing is the main activity of women in the village, she recalls. But if this activity remains profitable, the fact is that from production to marketing through collection, women encounter difficulties.
“Once processed, a kilo of cashew nuts is sold at 4,500 or 5,000 FCFA. We have a processing capacity estimated between 40,000 and 45,000 FCFA per bucket, which we sell to Dakar, Nioro du Rip and Kaolack,” informs Ms. Ndiaye.
The monthly income of women processors averages 100,000 FCFA and can sometimes even exceed this figure. To grow this money, the women processors organize themselves into a tontine to help each other and save money.
The months of April, May and June” are the cashew harvest period, reveals Kéba Ndao, a producer found in his cashew farm. After they are picked, they are sold at 600 francs per kilogram to the women of the village of Ndramé Pathé, he says.
However, due to a lack of means to enclose their plantations, producers are faced with the wanderings of animals, in particular cows which sometimes devastate crops.
They are seeking funding from the General Delegation for Rapid Entrepreneurship of Women and Youth (DER/FJ) and support from the Senegalese Agency for the Promotion of Exports (ASEPEX) to promote the cashew sector. Their objective is to make it a label to boost the economic development of their village and even of the municipality of Passy.
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