Young Engineers Gear Towards Valorizing Cashew Tree Fruits in Cameroon
A team of young engineers from Ecole Nationale des Sciences Agro-Industrielles, ENSAI, under the University of Ngaoundere has dedicated themselves to valorizing fruits of the cashew tree so as not to realize any post-harvest loss in Cameroon.
The team of young engineers is grouped under the Foods and Beverages Engineering, FBE created in 2021. FBE is a Cameroonian company committed to the valorization of the natural resources of Cameroon. Jerale Tchihebo Tchakonang Ngoko, a graduate of ENSAI is the carrier of the project “Valorization of cashew fruits in agribusiness and creation of a cashew value chain.”
According to information, FBE plans to fill the Ca- meroonian market with cashew nut products, while fighting towards reducing imports of finished products, unemployment, and underdevelopment. The company also aims at exporting its products while securing local and national development. However, the financial and material contributions towards this project are still personal efforts of each team member and the income from sales al- ready made.
Group members include former students of the Universities of Ngaoundéré and Maroua.They thus constitute a diversified layer from all regions of the country. The FBE offers academic courses in agri- business and professional training to strengthen the capacities of actors involved in artisanal and semi-industrial processing.
FBE works with the GIC Ribaou of Garoua, which owns more than 6000 hectares of cashew trees in the Mayo Dadi. The company encourages Came- roonians to have « Courage and optimism because it is by putting oneself in the oven and in the mill that the projects are realized; it is not necessary to wait for the financing.”
In addition to the nut and the cashew apple, the plant provides a range of secondary products with multiple uses, thus, the leaves are used as condiments and have certain therapeutic properties (against burns).
The tannin-rich bark is used in tanning. It is used to prepare indelible inks and black powder. It also has medicinal properties, constipation, mouth ulcers, etc.
The yellow to red-colored wood is used in cabinet making and for the manufacture of boxes. Cashew gums, exudates that flow from the trunk and branches of old trees, are used to prepare insect- proof glues. In other words, the cashew is a small wonder of nature that has remained in the shadows until now.
In line with the government’s national strategy for the development of the cashew industry and aiming at using the cashew tree as an initiator of reforestation of the sub-Saharan regions, FBE has found a source of wealth creation and employment through the valorization of the products resulting from this government policy.
FBE has three product lines through its brand “Reserve du Sahel” which includes products such as alcoholic drinks of wine type represented by three products namely the “White cashew wine, Rosé cashew wine and the Red cashew wine ».
In addition, the non-alcoholic drinks include the products “Natural juice of cashew nut, Cocktails based on cashew nut and Non-alcoholic wine based on cashew nut.”
The dried cashew apples or “Cashew chips” are packaged in several formats. Cashew nuts plain or in the form of salted and roasted snacks.
Several other products are under development at FBE including, spreads made from cashew nut kernels, liqueurs made from apples and cashew nuts, cashew apple vinegar, cashew apple syrup, cashew nut oil as well as cashew nut-based infant flour among others.
At the same time, FBE is engaged in a project of va- lorization of this waste in the production of energy. In this perspective, several projects are under de- velopment at FBE and should lead in the near future to the production of biogas from cashew nut shells, the large-scale production of feed for li- vestock based on cashew apple processing waste, and production of therapeutic teas based on the peels and leaves of the cashew tree.
The full magazine available here: https://www.minader.cm/index.php/2022/05/25/minader-infos-n005/
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1 thought on “Magazine trimestriel MINADER N°005”
ENSAI c’est une très grande école de notre pays et dans la sous région. Les produits des ingénieurs de cette école sont toujours meilleurs. Parlant des produits de la FBE ils sont très magnifique. Courage et vivre le made in cameroon