In The Gambia, family-owned cashew processors are primed for expansion
Unshelled cashews lay drying in the sun on a whitewashed patio. In an adjacent room, two women worked quietly, carefully stripping shelled nuts of their skin with razor blades. A few dozen meters away in a shadowed space, a shelling machine slick with oil sat idle.
The Jawneh & Family Cashew Enterprise outside Banjul in The Gambia employs more than 40, and is managed by Buba Jawneh, one of the founder’s sons.
That sunny afternoon there was a lull in activity as the business waited for another delivery of raw cashews from nearby farms.
“Our processing capacity here is two tonnes per month, that is 2,000 kilograms of kernels of output,” Jawneh said, with cashew shells clacking together behind him. Kernels are shelled, prepped and roasted cashews.