By Aja Beyai
In a bold move to catapult The Gambia’s cashew sector from waste to wealth, the University of The Gambia (UTG) today launched the Cashew Fruits Product Development Project. This €200,000 initiative is expected to transform the country’s millions of discarded cashew fruits into high-value products, including juices, jams, spirits, and cosmetics.
The groundbreaking partnership between UTG and the Finnish-Gambian firm Camarass Company LTD, owned by UTG alumnus Saikou Camara, is funded by the European Union, the German development agency GIZ, and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP). The project directly targets women and youth in cashew-rich Central River and Upper River Regions, training them in modern processing techniques and linking them to European export markets.
Speaking at the launch ceremony at UTG’s Kanifing campus, Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Herbert Robinson declared: “We are not just launching a project – we are rewriting The Gambia’s economic story. For too long, 90% of the cashew fruit has rotted under trees while we exported only the nut. Today, we say never again.”
Professor Robinson revealed that UTG’s new Food Technology Laboratory will develop 12 commercial cashew-fruit products within 24 months, while 500 women and 300 young entrepreneurs will receive certified training in value-addition and digital marketing. “This is industrialization with a human face,” he stressed.
Saikou Camara, whose Camarass Company already exports organic cashew nuts to Scandinavia, announced plans to establish The Gambia’s first cashew-fruit distillery by 2026. “My company started with one farmer cooperative in Kuntaur. Today, we employ 800 women. This project will triple that impact,” Camara told reporters.
The Turkish Ambassador to The Gambia, H.E. Tolga Bermek, who attended the launch, pledged to facilitate technology transfers from Turkish fruit-processing giants. “What I see here is exactly the model we need across Africa – university-driven innovation that reaches the poorest farmer,” he remarked.
Despite the €200,000 seed funding, project leaders have launched a GoFundMe campaign to purchase solar-powered processing units for rural women’s cooperatives.
As climate change threatens traditional crops, The Gambia now processes less than 2% of its annual cashew harvest of 60,000 tons. Today’s launch signals a seismic shift: from raw nut exporter to sophisticated agro-processor.
“With this project, UTG is proving that African universities can be engines of wealth creation, not just degree factories,” Professor Robinson said.
The Cashew Fruits Product Development Project has officially begun its mission to make The Gambia the “Cashew Capital of West Africa” – one transformed fruit at a time.
