Cashew farmers in Kranka, located in the Nkoranza North Constituency of the Bono East Region, are urgently appealing to the government to provide a stable market for their produce amid collapsing prices and a severe lack of buyers.
The farmers report that large quantities of cashew nuts remain unsold, raising the specter of massive post-harvest losses and deepening financial distress. According to the growers, the absence of reliable purchasing channels has crippled their already fragile economic situation, leaving many struggling to feed their families and maintain their farms.
The crisis has been driven by a dramatic price crash. Farmers explained that the farmgate price for cashew has plunged from approximately GH₵23 per kilogram in previous seasons to as low as GH₵8 per kilogram currently. This sharp decline has decimated incomes, leaving many unable to repay loans taken to finance cultivation and harvest.
“We are suffering. We cannot even afford basic daily needs because there is no money coming from our work,” one farmer lamented, appealing directly to President John Dramani Mahama for swift intervention to avert further hardship. The farmers are calling on the president to ensure the purchase of their produce or establish structured market systems that guarantee fair and stable prices.
The plight of the farmers has also drawn concern from the Member of Parliament for Nsawam-Adoagyiri and Minority Chief Whip, Frank Annoh-Dompreh. He warned that continued neglect of challenges in the agricultural sector could have serious national implications.
Mr. Annoh-Dompreh stressed that the welfare of farmers is central to Ghana’s economic stability and urged the government to act decisively to address market failures affecting key cash crops like cashew.
The situation in Kranka underscores broader systemic challenges within Ghana’s agricultural value chain, including chronic price instability, limited market access, and weak post-harvest support systems. Stakeholders continue to call for sustainable interventions to protect farmers and strengthen the country’s struggling cashew industry.
