FaGab Cashews

According to a farmfit IDH  article, it was reported that In Africa alone there are approximately 2million smallholder Cashew farmers  yet 85% of the cashew farmers lack access to readily available markets,at the end of the day,they sell it to middle men at a cheap price As a result, most farmers are left to survive with little income. To solve this problem, Fagab Cashews created a program where small- scale cashew farmers can register to access farm inputs, funding  and training  on climate friendly and sustainable farm practices after which we buy the cashews  ( both the apples and nuts) 50% higher than what is offered by the middle men.We then process them using eco- friendly production process and Carbon neutral technology and sell them under a brand. Our solution will enrich lives of Smallholder Cashews farmers in Africa and also will encourage  the use of organic fuels in production.

Cashew fruit consist of both apples and the nuts.According to a publication by clipper magazine it is reported that  there are 1.5 million smallholder Cashew farmers, it is even reported that one out of every two cashews comes from Africa, yet Eighty-five percent (85%) of cashews(particularly the nuts) planted  and harvested in Africa are traditionally sold off at an extremely low price for processing mainly in India and Vietnam this is done via middle men who buy from Smallholder Cashew farmers at a cheap price and sell it to Indian and Vietnam buyers at a higher price, as a result most famers are left to survive with a little income. We are based in Nigeria and according to the 2019 report by the National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), it is said that Nigeria produces 10% of the total global cashew production, and also is the fourth largest producer of cashews  globally, yet more than 90% of Smallholder farmers don't have readily available market access.  A worse case is that the 90% of cashew apples planted in Africa goes to waste without proper value addition, this is due to the easy perishability so middle men don't buy them.

FaGab Cashews creates a program where Smallholder farmers can access loans, training and farm inputs.After harvest we buy the cashews(both the nuts and apples)  directly from the farmers  at a higher price(mostly 30-50% higher).The purchased raw nuts are processed  into varieties of flavored cashew nuts while the cashew apples are converted to  cashew juice. Fagab cashews runs on the principles of the circular economy with its eco-friendly production processes and a carbon neutral technology, this is done to contribute our quota to the war against climate change. This is how our eco- friendly production process runs; when processing the raw cashew nuts into edible cashew nuts, we use the Leftover empty cashew nuts shells along with wood chips from old cashew trees, and they are recycled to power the steaming and drying process of the raw cashew nuts into edible nuts, while the residual biochar is used as a carbon-rich fertilizer and are given to the farmers. While  In processing the cashew apples into cashew juice, the waste gotten is converted to  animal feeds for animal consumption. We also make use of the barcode technology to keep track of the registered farmers under us.

Our Target customers are mainly

I. Smallholder farmers:  There are about 1.5 million Smallholder Cashew farmers in Africa, yet majority of of them face the following challenges :-
• Lack of access to funds by smallholder farmers
• Lack of market access of farm Produce, as they mainly sell their produce via middle men.
• Poor food storage thereby causing food wastage and food spoilage.

In order to understand  their needs,we paid a visit to Ofu in Kogi state, we had an intensive discussion with some group of farmers

85% of Smallholder Cashews in Nigeria lacks access to inputs, training and readily available markets. Fagab Cashews creates a program where we register smallholder Cashew farmers, where they can access farm inputs, funding and training on climate friendly farming after which we buy the cashews(nuts and apples) at a higher price. We use the shell from cashew nuts as organic fuel, then the residual biochar is used as carbon fertilizers to the soil which benefits plants(carbon neutral technology). This is how we align with Challenge 1 which is Supporting  small-scale producers with access to inputs, capital, knowledge to improve yields

 Our major competitors are Olam and Food Pro, They all work with smallholder cashew farmers to source majorly the cashew nuts and neglect the cashew apples because of its easy perishability. Then our listed competitors buy the cashew nuts from small-scale farmers and process the nuts using processes that requires diesel, thereby increasing the cost of production and as well polluting the environment via combustion processes. In FaGab Cashews, we are different and innovative, we create a program where small-scale Cashew farmers can register to have access to farm inputs, funding through loans and as well receive training on sustainable and climate-friendly farming practices. We then buy the cashew nuts at a higher price than what middle men and other companies offer, we also buy the cashew apples and process them into juice for consumption. The processing of Cashew apples into juice is the first innovation for us as a company,as we will be the first company to take that bold step and also we will also be the first company in Nigeria that sees the value of the Cashew apples and also pay farmers for it. The second innovation is that in FaGab Cashews we run an eco-friendly production process and Carbon neutral technology,as Leftover empty shells, along with wood chips from old cashew trees, are recycled to power the steaming and drying process, while the residual biochar is used as a carbon-rich fertiliser. This will reduce production cost and help contribute to the fight against climate change.

In order to process the  raw Cashew nuts bthat was purchased from Farmers, FaGab Cashews runs an Eco-friendly production process and relies on carbon neutral technology. The carbon neutral technology is a technology that allows achieving net zero Carbon dioxide emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal (often through carbon offsetting) or simply eliminating carbon emissions altogether (the transition to the "post-carbon economy").  This is how it works with respect to our company, we use the raw Cashew nuts Shell as organic fuels  to help in the steaming and drying process of the raw cashew nuts, while the residual biochar gotten from the combustion of the raw cashew nuts shell is used as carbon fertilizers, which the small-scale cashew farmers that are registered under our program utilize to enrich the soil for planting. This technology is useful to our business model as it reduces the cost of production that comes from purchase of diesel for processing, it will help in contributing to the fight against climate change. We use bar code technology to keep track of all the registered farm. An analyst feed in data of the registered farms to our data base.  All the registered farms has a bar code. When u scan the bar code u get detail  like the farm size, average farm output per annual,  the amount of input received by the farmer,  the duration of the crop,  the proposed harvesting date etc.  We use the technology to monitor and track the registered  cashew farms.

The carbon- neutral technology is already in use in America at the moment as more companies are joining in the fight against climate change, although the application of the carbon-Neutral technology comes with different applications, example of such company is the Monsanto, Monsanto was among the first to create carbon-neutral crop production practices that it uses on millions of acres of farmland. Disney to a company in the United States is applying  the carbon-Neutral technology

At all of its parks, Disney uses zero net direct greenhouse gas
emissions and has a zero-waste policy so that nothing ends up in
landfills. It s

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At the moment there are 3 of us in the team. We have 2 full-time staff and 1 part time staff.

In the leadership team is Musa Gabriel Junior who is the Chief Executive Officer of FaGab Cashews. He grew up farming in his grandfather’s cashew farm, helping his grandfather sell his cashews(mainly nuts)to middle men who pay cheap prices and then go ahead to sell them at a higher price. So, he is conversant with the cashew nuts value chain from farmers to middle men who then sell it to buyers from Vietnam. He was also directly involved in a company owned by his elder sister, the company collects beans from farmers and then convert it to beans flour for sales. Through the experience in the beans flour company he has a better 
understanding on how to have a productive relationship with farmers and as well develop leadership skills. He is currently doing a research on extraction and characterization of cashew nuts oil.
     We have Fabian Ogboji who is our chief marketing officer, he co-founded ogboji farms with his brother, where they farm and sell Oranges in large amounts. He is an expert in digital marketing. He is a strong advocate on climate change issues. He is a final year student of Chemical Engineering.

We also have Daniel Segun in the team, he is an expert in roasting the nuts, he is our chief innovator in the processing of the Cashew nuts. He has been roasting the nuts since his childhood, so we rely on his expertise in the processing.

FaGab Cashews currently has two groups of partners for  product development and initial piloting

Microfinance institutions:-We are able to help the farmers access loans by us partnering with the Nigerian Incentive based risk sharing system for Agricultural Lending ( NIRSAL),and also by partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN'S).

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA):-

They are a non-governmental organization that we partner with to help farmers access farm inputs and training, in return they are able to come and make research on the Cashew farms anytime they are ready.

Our key customers are smallholder cashew farmers, cashew nuts and cashew apples consumers. The social enterprise creates a program where we help Smallholder farmers access loans and farm inputs, .After harvest we buy the cashews,( both the nuts and apples) from the farmers at a higher price thereby eliminating middle men. We are able to help the farmers access loans by us partnering with the Nigeria Incentive based risk sharing system for Agricultural
Lending ( NIRSAL), and also by partnering with the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN'S) anchor borrowers programme, we are able to help the Smallholder farmers access 
farm inputs by partnering with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA).The cashews(both the apple and nuts) are purchased from the Smallholder Cashew farmers and processed using eco-friendly production process and Carbon neutral technology.The raw nuts are processed into varieties of flavored cashew nuts while the cashew apples are converted to cashew juice and are sold in retail outlets and shopping malls, they are also served in cinemas, lounges and served in planes during travels. Through our business model, farmers will have 50% increase per bag of raw cashew nuts they sell to us, and they will also get paid for the cashew apples they sell to us, because middle men don't purchase them due to their easy perishability, so 90% of cashew apples goes to waste due to lack of value addition, we tend to reduce the waste of cashew apples by converting it to cashew juice.