ABSTRACT 

Cashew (Anacardium occidentale) is a tree crop of considerable economic importance to Nigeria and other tropical countries. Apart from being a source of useful products and by-products for food, medicinal and industrial application, cashew also gives useful shade, while ornamental and alley trees are suitable for the control of soil erosion particularly in protection of water shed and dams. Cashew was introduced to Nigeria by Portuguese traders during 5th and I 6°century and since then, it has flourished in a wild state (Ohler I 988). Cultivation of cashew started in the early I 950's, through the effort of the then Eastern Nigeria Agricultural Development. The initial objective of the programme was to use cashew trees for erosion control, because of the massive erosion problems in that part of the country. The realization of cashew nut as a potential revenue-earning commodity compelled the defunct Eastern and Western Nigeria Government to start commercial planlatioiis iii most towns of these regions. Major growing areas in Nigeria are by order of importance: E•iu. Abia, Imo Anambra, Ebonyi and Cross River States in the eastern part of the country, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun States in the Western Parts as well as Kwara Kogi Nassarawa, Benue, Taraba, Niger and Federal Capital ferritory (FC'l') in the Middle belt and also Sokoto and Kebbi Stales in the North West part of the country. The majority of the export quality nuts came from the Eastern and Western pa1ts of the country. The main suppliers of this fruit are the peasants who collect the nuts from the trees growing (sub) spontaneously in the area. Many of these farmers have however plaiited cashew trees around their houses or even have small groves of their own. The area under cashew is steadily increasing because of growing demands and rising prices and in addition to planting cashew in a small scale, plantation scale cultivation also started. Trends in production are related to trends in consumption and these in turn will depend on world economic situation with increasing standard of living in developing countries, a large potential consumer market for cashew nuts may develop especially in cashew producing countries where the nut is well known.