A Cashew Crisis

I love cashew nuts, whether raw or lightly roasted with a sprinkling of salt. In fact, they're probably my favourite nut, not least because they were always available when we were small children in East Africa, when they would often be brought to us by Saidi for our mid-morning snack.

You would struggle to recognise a cashew 'in the wild'. They hang underneath a fruit - called an 'apple' - which grows on a tree which is up to 20ft high. In the picture, the apples are small compared with many varieties.

Cashew trees thrive in tropical environments right round the world and in some countries they form a significant export earning. In Tanzania, one of Africa's poorer countries, they make up some 15% of its foreign earnings.

Cashews are grown by small-time farmers in the thousands of villages along Tanzania's coast. Their annual crop is bought by traders who, this year, are offering a low price - £1 per kilogramme. The farmers, understandably, aren't happy and are being supported by Tanzania's President, who thinks they should receive at least 10% more. To enforce this, he has - believe it! - threatened to send in the army to buy the entire cashew crop to ensure that the farmers get a fair price.

Even £1.10 seems a miserable price for this king of nuts. A kilo of whole, raw cashews in a shop here will cost you £13 or more. It always seems that the producers make least out of food yet have often put in the most work, and shouldered all the risks such as adverse weather and poor yields.

Top picture courtesy Wikipedia.