December 11, 2017 | 17:26 (GMT+7)
Vinacas develops 1-million-ton cashew material region in Cambodia
The Vietnamese cashew sector is working with Cambodia’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and Cambodian firms to develop a 1-million-ton cashew material region in Cambodia.
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Vinacas to help Cambodia cultivate 500,000 hectares of cashew. Photo: cafef.vn
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According to President of the
Vietnam Cashew Association (Vinacas) Nguyen Duc Thanh, the association will
help Cambodia
cultivate 500,000 hectares of cashew, with all the output set to be bought by
Vietnamese enterprises.
Before 2014, Cambodia sold only 30 percent of its cashew nuts
to Vietnam.
But in the last two years, Vietnam
has become the largest consumer of Cambodia’s cashew by buying more
than 90 percent of exports, making Cambodia Vietnam’s fifth largest raw cashew
supplier.
Cambodia’s plan to expand cashew farms aims
to improve locals’ income.
Hean Vann Horn, head of the
agriculture general department and an envoy of the Cambodian Government, said
that in the last few years, due to price volatility and poor management, cashew
farming area in Cambodia
plummeted from 300,000ha to 100,000ha.
He asked for Vinacas’s help to
supply good seeds and technical training to ensure good quality and yields.
Initially, Vinacas has provided 1.5
billion VND (66,000 USD) to the Cambodian side to grow one million cashew trees
in 2018-2022.
Currently, local raw material supply
only meets 20 -35 percent of Vietnam’s
demand.
The country has imported 1.2 million
tons of raw cashew so far this year, mostly from Africa.
Source: VNA