Starting on February 7, a caravan of information, awareness-raising and tasting cashew apples will travel through cities in northern Côte d'Ivoire, around Comoé National Park, ending in Abidjan on 24 February. These are Bouna, Doropo, Koutouba, Flakiesdougou and Nassian.
This is the information provided by Veerle Van Waesberghe, project manager of the Programme for the Development of Economic and Natural Spaces Taï and Comoé in Côte d'Ivoire (PROFIAB II) of the German International Cooperation (GIZ), based in Côte d'Ivoire.
It was on January 31 during the press conference to launch the said caravan at the PROFIAB II headquarters, located in Abidjan-Cocody.
According to Veerle Van Waesberghe, this caravan aims to valorize the cashew apple that is rejected, by making its numerous derivatives known during processing (jams, candies, cakes, juices, wine, wine, beer, liquor, “dêguê” “semolina with milk”,...). Then, encourage private investment.
Speaking of certain benefits, she notes: “it has been scientifically proven that cashew apples are 3 to 5 times richer in vitamin C than oranges.” Not without inviting us to erase the prejudice alleging the toxicity of the consumption of cashew apples in combination with milk.
The PROFIAB project manager emphasized that this caravan, which will be interactive, will take place “in a friendly atmosphere with entertainment, games and gifts”.
The speaker also noted that, according to a study, Côte d'Ivoire has a potential of 5 million tons of cashew apples to be processed. Anything that will create a lot of jobs and therefore contribute to the fight against poverty, she added. Before saying that in Brazil, the cashew apple has a high added value compared to walnuts.

For his part, Colonel N'goran François, representing the director general of the Ivorian Office of Parks and Reserves (Oipr), Colonel Tondossama Adama, said he was satisfied with the partnership with GIZ. He then indicated that this caravan will participate in the preservation of the Comoé National Park, with the involvement of the surrounding populations.