The cash in “cashew apples” is building commerce for
small farmers in India

Ever wondered how cashews grow? A single nut appears from a colorful pod (called an “apple”) growing on trees in tropical regions like Brazil, Vietnam and India. While the popular nut is in growing demand, the apples are standardly left on the ground or thrown away.

As reported by the New York Times, a new pilot program by Pepsi in India may change that. Based on the growing demand of young, health-conscious consumers around the globe, Pepsi is betting that the tangy, sweet juice from cashew apples will be the next coconut water or açaí juice.

Cashew apple juice is not commonly marketed due to its quick fermentation, but does show up in various local products around the globe like Cashewy in Thailand, which is marketed as “the beverage of gods.” Claims extol its high vitamin C content, and its ability to help burn fat and enhance sexual performance.

Farmers were baffled by Pepsi’s interest. “I thought it was a little strange that they wanted to buy cashew apples, but I didn’t like to question a new source of money,” said Sanjay Pandit in an interview with The Times.

To help improve the farming, collection and rapid processing of the apples, Pepsi turned to the Clinton Foundation, which had expressed interest in the company’s efforts to incorporate small farmers into its global supply chains. Acceso Cashew Enterprise, the business established by the Foundation to carry out the program in India, works with farmers teaching them techniques and practices to help increase yields and improve cultivation.

Due to a distribution system thick with middlemen, farmers historically have received only a fraction of the nut’s final value, but Acceso is replacing some of that network, buying nuts at a higher price as well as creating a market for what until now was essentially garbage, the cashew apples. Roughly 500 small farmers participate in the Acceso program.

More than a dozen growers interviewed by The Times said that sales of the cashew fruit last season had raised their families’ incomes by as much as 20 percent. One farmer, Ravindra Agare, said he had been able to buy schoolbooks for his children. The two sons of another farmer, Harshad Mukadam, are taking English lessons that he said he could never have afforded before. “It makes me happy that I can do this for them,” Mr. Mukadam said.

Starting next year, cashew juice will go into a mixed fruit juice drink sold in India under the Tropicana label, replacing more expensive juices like apple, pineapple and banana. Eventually, the company hopes to add it to drinks around the world.

Excerpts taken from the New York Times article “Cashew Juice, the Apple of Pepsi’s Eye”, by Stephanie Strom August 8, 2014.