Project title: Valorization of cashew apple in Africa
Project number: SMP-24028
Requesting country: Tanzania
Year: 2024
Budget: € 40,000
Project leader: Aleksandra Pawlik
Knowledge institute: Wageningen University & Research
Project partners: Rhumveld, Winter & Konijn B.V.

Summary

Cashew is a tropical tree that produces an apple, below which a nut grows. When the nut is ripe, it is separated from the apple and sold for processing at remote locations. During nut harvesting, the apple is usually over-ripe, which makes it difficult to use it for added value applications. Finding profitable uses is important for farmers and for overall sustainability, which is recognized by Dutch nut processing companies, who initiate this project.

In this SMP we want to understand the specific bottlenecks in the implementation of existing cashew apple valorisation strategies and build program(s) for (i) catalysing the adoption of, or (ii) development of new upcycling technologies through collaborative efforts of academia and industry.