Abstract:
In Nigeria, cashew is an important contributor to the Gross Domestic product (GDP) and
significant source of non-oil foreign exchange earnings for the country. Over the past three
decades, cashew nut alone has contributed an annual average of US$253.25 million to GDP of
the country. However, the industrial investment potentials of the export crop are yet to be fully
exploited due to inadequate value addition to the primary product in the country which has
constrained competitiveness of the export crop in the global market. Therefore, the paper
evaluates the determinants of the competitiveness of the product in the world market. Secondary
time series data covering 37 years from 1980 to 2017 were used. Augmented Dickey Fuller
Statistics, autoregressive distributed lag model and error correction mechanism were used in the
analysis of data. Significant determinants of competitiveness of exports of cashew nuts indicate
the need for efficiency in spending on infrastructure development. This should be focused on
improving electricity consumption from public supply for ease of processing. Transportation
system, repair of old damaged roads and building of new ones should link village to village and
village to industrial centres, as well as linking village to urban towns and ports for ease of
logistics in moving the export product to the global market. |
