The appointment was made at the end of the 5th session of the Council of Ministers of the International Cashew Advisory Council (CICC), held this Thursday, April 6, 2023 in Abidjan, on the sidelines of the 4th International Exhibition of Cashew Processing Equipment and Technology (SIETTA).
“We welcome the choice of Cote d’Ivoire to lead the next mandate of the CICC with the Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Adjoumani Kobenan, as the new President,” said the Ivorian Minister of Trade, Industry and SME Promotion, Souleymane Diarrassouba, who was representing the incoming President.
Mr. Souleymane Diarrassouba, who chaired the session, hailed the “success” of the mandate of the outgoing president, Cameroon’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Gabriel Mbairobe, for “the excellent work that has been done.”
“I would like to reassure you that the Ivorian government will spare no effort to ensure the success of the next mandate with the support and accompaniment of all, so that the cashew industry benefits our economies, our farmers, our youth and our women,” he added.
He noted that when we look at the statistics, “less than 10 percent of cashew production is processed on the African continent,” calling on technical and financial partners to support the CICC in its “mission to achieve this structural transformation of our economies.”
Cote d’Ivoire, with a processing rate of 6 percent, a few years ago, is now at a processing rate of about 23 percent, or more than 224,000 tons of cashews. The country, the world’s largest producer of cashew nuts, recorded 1.02 million tons in 2022.
“Our mandate was placed under the sign of the operationalization of the Executive Secretariat. We have benefited from the hospitality of Cote d’Ivoire to have a headquarters and financial and technical partners to equip this headquarters,” said the Cameroonian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Mr. Gabriel Mbairobe said he was “happy” to pass the torch to Côte d’Ivoire. The ICCC Council of Ministers approved the 2023 Annual Budgeted Work Plan for a total amount of US$1.16 million during this session.
For the Strategic Plan 2023-2027, the Council of Ministers of the organisation adopted a total cost of US$2.228 million. Concerning the contribution of the states, the members decided on an amount of 70,000 US dollars for the year 2023.
Furthermore, the Council of Ministers urged the member states to set up an advisory body that will be the respondent of the ICAC in their respective countries. It requested the Executive Secretariat to pursue efforts for the accession of Mozambique, Zambia, Gambia and Madagascar.
The Council also instructed the Secretariat to pursue the membership of Sierra Leone, Kenya, Congo, Gabon and Tanzania as observer members of the ICAC for a period of two years. Ghana will host the next session of the ICCC.
The representative of the Technical and Financial Partners (TFPs), Rita Weidinger, insisted on the establishment of advisory bodies in each country and called for increased research to increase yields and pest control.
The ICCC includes Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea Conakry, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau.
Since December 2021, the presidency was held by Cameroon through its Ministry of Agriculture and Development.
The 5th meeting of the Council of Ministers was coupled with the 4th edition of the International Exhibition of equipment and technologies for cashew processing (SIETTA 2023). The 6th session of the organisation is scheduled to take place in Ghana, the country currently holding the vice-presidency of the ICCC.
AP/fss/as/APA