By Eyo Nsima

Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange, LCFE has screened Agvest Limited to list its N5 billion cashew nut contract through diversified financial instruments.

Speaking in Lagos, Agvest’s Managing Director, Mr. Olabode Abikoye, said: “Our decision to list Cashew Nut contracts on the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange is to enable private investors to enjoy the benefits of quotation. We shall by this approach support the government’s drive to generate foreign exchange. We have 210 hectares of land as a plantation in Iwo, Oyo State and we are working closely with Oyo State Investment and Public Partnership Agency (OYSIPA) to activate our plan.

“ As a listed product, our cashew shall always meet international standard as prescribed by the International Standard Organization (ISO)which requires good temperature, moisture level, and grade. Many stakeholders in the commodities value chain in Nigeria operate in silos. One of our  company’s functions is to integrate the stakeholders in the value chain.”

Similarly, the Managing Director, Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange (LCFE), Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Alenoted, said: “Nigerian cashew sector is dominated by smallholder farmers. numbered at about 25,000 and some commercial plantations, with an average cultivated area of 325,000 hectares, the local processing industry is growing gradually while there is a significant rise in export due to increased awareness of the export potential and processing opportunities. Other actors in the ecosystems include local buying agents, processors, exporters, and service providers.

“The challenges around the production and processing of cashew in Nigeria mainly center around the primary production of cashew from aged trees.

“Thanks to scientific research, there has been a substantial improvement in seed varieties that have introduced improved varieties which present primary production efforts need to take advantage of the meet the improved quality requirements of the international market.”

Also speaking, the Chairman, Mega Group, Mr. Sam Onukwue, said that LCFE would transform the commodities ecosystem and put it on the global map.

The Nigerian cashew sector is dominated by smallholder farmers numbering about 25,000 and some commercial plantations, with an average cultivated area of 325,000 hectares.