IMPACT report JOHNNY cashew's
- 2023 -
FOREWORD -
To the Cashew Revolution!
"have you heard of
carbon cashew?”
If your local chippy flew their locally grown potatoes to Chicago just to be peeled and sliced, then shipped them back to the UK, you’d rightly think that was nuts. That’s what we thought when we learned that a cashew grown in Tanzania travels all the way to Asia to be shelled and processed before it gets shipped to Europe—all the way around Africa. Does a cashew really have to detour 12,000 unnecessary kilometres, needlessly emitting tonnes and tonnes of carbon dioxide? Johnny Cashew asks a simple question: “Is there a shorter route from tree to table?”
We set out to prove there can be. There’s no reason why cashews can’t be processed in their country of origin and shipped directly to their final destination. That would be better for the climate, better for the farmer, better for Tanzania, and better for the consumer.
But it meant Johnny Cashew would have to reinvent the cashew supply chain from Tanzania to the UK. We’d have to find or create a processing plant in Tanzania. And we’d have to find distributors who believed — as we did — that there are customers out there who would really prefer cashews that weren’t covered in crazy.
We love a challenge!
And that’s what we did. We helped create the Mama Cashew factory, bringing 600 jobs to Tanzania and employing mostly women. We buy
locally grown, locally shelled cashews from more than 1,000 Fairtrade-certified farmers. We ship them directly to the Netherlands — and now to the UK — saving over one MILLION transport kilometres since 2022.
We’re creating impact simply by making a few common-sense changes to an unhealthy supply chain. We’re out to stop the carbon cashew, stand up for fair pay for farmers, create jobs in Tanzania, and simplify supply chains everywhere. We can’t wait to see what Johnny Cashew can do when you — and you — and you! — get on board to help make the change. In this Impact Report, we invite you to join us, take a break, hear our story, and learn about our plans to get cashews from farm to palm with a lot less harm.
Team Johnny Cashew
WHERE DO OUR CASHEWS COME FROM?
Grown in Tanzania - Starting at the tree…
Did you know that cashews grow from an apple on a tree? The nuts we enjoy are just one part of a larger fruit. Our cashews are grown and harvested by Fairtrade-certified farmers in Tanzania. We work with over 1,000 farmers across three cooperatives.
Processed
locally - Moving to the Mamas…
The harvested nuts — shell and all — are transported to Mama Cashew, our partner shelling factory in Mtwara. There, 600 of Johnny Cashew’s friends carefully boil, shell, and peel the cashews, then sort the nuts by shape and size: large, small, or broken. By shelling locally, these people have a job that they wouldn't have otherwise, enabling them to provide for their families and communities.
Transported
directly - …Ending with you!
The Mamas wave farewell to the cashews (and hello to the cash of their fair pay), and they’re shipped directly from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. There, we add some special touches (roasting and seasoning) before packing them into bags and sending them directly to shops, canteens, and you!
why tanzania?
Every revolution starts with an injustice. A supply chain revolution is no exception.
The problems in the Tanzanian cashew sector are (unfortunately) huge: the country’s cashew crop is expanding, producing over 240,000 tons of unshelled cashews in 2022/2023. A shocking 88% of that harvest was exported to Asian countries for processing, resulting in an economic loss for Tanzania, and a big carbon footprint due to unnecessary transport for the cashews.
That supply chain needs straightening out, and quickly. In 2021, Tanzania’s government passed the creatively-named “Cashewnut Industry Act”, allowing processors to do business directly with farmer cooperatives. Sales are on the rise, and Johnny Cashew thinks Tanzania could become a delicious, sustainable example for the rest of the cashew industry to follow, if we can just address a few things…
chain vision johnny cashew's
what's wrong with carbon cashews?
The numbers don't lie: the current system has some serious twists and turns that need straightening out. We can break them down into three categories:
1. An unsustainable chain
First of all, thanks to the clout of “Big Cashew” moguls in Asia, African cashews still make that whopping detour. From Tanzania, we're talking an extra 12,000 kilometres and all the accompanying pollution. Secondly, in a sustainable chain, all products would be treated equally, but in the cashew chain, that's far from reality. Out of the 29 cashew grades (industry-speak for shapes and sizes), most buyers will only take whole nuts. But up to 25% of the nuts crack during shelling (that’s a lot!), and end up being bought at a deep discount, robbing the farmer of value. The industry has decided consumers only want perfectly shaped nuts to pop into their mouths. That’s such a waste, since they taste just as scrumptious and are just as healthy as the whole ones.
2. An unfair chain
Getting what you're entitled to sounds straightforward, but alas, that doesn’t always fly in the cashew chain. Big buyers hold the power to set the prices, and that’s bad news for the people at the bottom of the current supply chain. The amount farmers receive for their harvest isn’t enough to live on or cover all production costs. Those buyers then choose to ship the cashews to countries like Vietnam and India for processing, instead of shelling the nuts locally in their country of origin. A shelled nut is worth five to ten times more than a “raw” one. That’s a lot of cash to eschew!
3.
An opaque chain
Just for laughs, have a look at a bag of cashews at the supermarket: does it say where they come from? Often not. And even if a country is named, you still know zilch. A nut “from Vietnam” could still originally be from Tanzania. This lack of transparency in the chain makes the whole situation worse: Nobody knows the full story — so who takes responsibility?
As far as Johnny Cashew is concerned, it doesn’t have to be this way! A cleaner, simpler and more transparent supply chain is just common sense. All anyone needs to challenge the carbon cashew are some guiding principles to help stay on course.
principles to chew on
We took one look at the carbon cashew supply chain and thought, “that’s totally nuts!”. Then we took a second, closer look and knew there was a more logical way. Using simple, common-sense principles as our guide, we’re on a fairer, more sustainable — and ultimately, shorter — path; a path all cashew lovers can follow to join our journey.
A Sustainable Chain
1. Carbon reduction:
Ditching the detour of 12,000 kilometres is a splendid first step. But we want to go further. Johnny Cashew aims to shrink the carbon footprint of all cashews through the mantra of avoiding, reducing, and compensating. We avoid where possible, like skipping the unnecessary trips. We reduce by using sustainable materials and producing more efficiently. The emissions we can’t avoid, we offset — at least until we figure out a way to make ocean transport carbon neutral (Here’s to the first carbon-negative cashew nut!).
2. Whole Harvest:
Every nut is just as tasty. The big, the small, and the broken ones. That’s why we buy the whole harvest at a fair price, which benefits the African processors the most. Nearly everything ends up in our bags, and the leftovers make their way into other delights, like vegan cheese and ice cream.
A Fair Chain
3. Fair Price:
By our definition (and that of Fairtrade International), a fair price covers the costs of a decent living. That’s why we pay farmers a so-called Living Income Reference Price (LIRP) and hope to also provide a living wage to factory workers in the future. Fair’s fair, right?
4. Long-term
relationships:
Applying these principles requires stamina. They’re not yet convenient and they challenge established practice; nobody commits to such things on a whim. That’s why we strive for long-lasting partnerships. Happy ones, founded on mutual benefits, respect, and the camaraderie of being a part of something important for farmers and the world.
A Transparent Chain
5. Traceability:
How can you be sure that the cashew on your snack platter hasn’t taken a carbon-costly trip across distant oceans? Or that the price you pay puts cash in the hands of those whose hands have done the most work? Or that you’re munching on pure Tanzanian nuts and not a mix? The answer to these questions lies in the traceability of the chain, meaning you can track where a product comes from. Our Fairtrade certification guarantees this.
the
A GOOD CASHEW = A g000d CASHEW three
Johnny Cashew wanted nothing to do with the crazy carbon cost of shipping cashews halfway around the world to be peeled. We wanted nothing to do with unnecessary waste. And we wanted nothing to do with adding to Africa’s poverty. Nothing. Zero. Null. Nada. Zip. Niente. Sifuri.
In the last chapter, we shared our Principles To Chew On. These are the foundation of our pillars of impact, guiding our efforts to make g000d cashews: Zero carbon. Zero waste. Zero poverty
1. ZERO carbon
Cashews have really got to give up on the jet-set lifestyle. By cutting out the trip to Asia and skipping the semi-circumnavigation of the globe, we already save tonnes of carbon emissions, an important first step. But more can be done to further reduce the carbon cost of every cashew.
2. ZERO WASTE
We consider waste in any process to be a design flaw. From the milk to the apple to the shells to the peels, there are ways all of the waste from producing cashews can be put to better use. Nature wastes nothing; neither should we.
3. ZERO POVERTY
Everyone deserves a fair reward for their work, and a fair share of the price of the final product. “Fair” may be tricky to define, but it’s not hard to spot and do something about unfair labour practices, exploitation, and bad wages. We’re on it.
Mama Cashew in action!
Freek visiting George from Mama Cashew
ZERO CARBON
Avoid and reduce, and only then compensate. In that order. Within this pillar, Johnny Cashew’s ultimate goal is a carbon-negative cashew supply chain, without needing to compensate for what we do emit with things like carbon offsets. This means giving back more to the planet than we take.
Avoidance means we actually cut out unnecessary steps: processing cashews locally to skip the voyage to Asia is a prime example. Efficient transportation also falls into this category, so we fill trucks and ships to the brim. avoid
reduce
Where we can’t avoid, we reduce. In producing packaging, we use the most recyclable plastic for the least impact possible. Better shelling methods and more environmentally friendly production — for example, using renewable energy sources — help to reduce emissions.
What remains, we compensate for. To get our nuts from Tanzania to a store near you, we have to ship them; the standard Dutch solution to low carbon transport — the bicycle — isn’t going to do the job. We achieve it instead through our partnership with Good Shipping, who produce biofuels to replace fossil fuels. We’re also working with Forliance to reforest areas in southern Tanzania which have suffered major deforestation. The project is not only helping restore biodiversity and reduce carbon, it has also created more than 300 local community jobs.
These types of offsetting have led to our achievement of a carbon neutral cashew. But the planet is counting on us, so neutral is not enough. We want to go carbon-negative, and we want all our nutty friends to be able to do the same! In the future, we want to achieve carbon negativity by planting new cashew trees within our own chain. That’ll mean new, more productive trees for the farmers, and lower-emission cashews for our customers.
How’s the carbon revolution going?
To ensure our supply chain aligns with our principles, Johnny Cashew conducted a Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA) of our cashews, together with the Roundtable of Sustainable Biomaterials. The LCA revealed that our cashew emits 30% less CO2 across the entire supply chain compared to the carbon cashew. This reduction is mostly down to significant savings in transportation: 57% less compared to the carbon cashew, with its extra 12,000-kilometre detour.
Another important carbon savings: it takes five (five!) containers of raw cashews to produce one container of shelled cashew nuts. Those shells are bulky! Over the past two years, we've saved over 1 million unnecessary detour kilometres by processing cashews in Tanzania instead of sending five containers on an ocean voyage to get one back. So, the revolution is progressing nicely, if we do say so ourselves!
ZERO waste
We don’t care if a cashew is broken in the shelling process. We buy the whole harvest at a fair price. Johnny Cashew is all about inclusion, and we welcome broken nuts in our bags. Some pieces may truly be too small, but that doesn’t make them worthless! We can use these lil bits and dust to make all kinds of vegan treats.
How’s the waste revolution going?
Some broken pieces may truly be too small, but that doesn’t make them worthless! We can use these lil bits and dust to make all kinds of vegan treats. We are making delicious ice cream and cheese out of these. Besides the nut, the cashew tree gives us the cashew apple, shell, and the liquid from the apple. We have a few hunches about what we can do with those. This market is not yet fully developed, but we're exploring possibilities with our friends at Wageningen University. We can make meat substitutes and sustainable fuel from the apple, and the shell is a perfect material for biofuel pellets.
For some these might be apples left to rot. For us its potential renewable energy!
Shells waiting to become biofuel pallets!
ZERO poverty
Within this pillar, Johnny Cashew has one goal: a living income or living wage for everyone within the African cashew supply chain. We didn't invent this term ourselves; it comes from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
‘"Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself/herself and his/her family an existence worthy of human dignity..."
For the farmers, that reward is called a living income. It’s hugely important, at both an individual level and for the long-term sustainability of the cashew trade: when farmers don’t have to worry about where the next meal is coming from, they can focus on the long term and invest in a better life for themselves and their family. That’s why we’re paying them an extra premium on top of the farm-gate price and the Fairtrade premium, which we explain in more detail in the next section.
For the people in the factory, a fair reward is called a living wage. To maximise our positive impact in Tanzania, we also try to improve the local employment situation with our partner shelling factory, Mama Cashew. We’re also working on a living wage for everyone in the processing plant. It’s a work in progress, and the kind of progress we hope more will join us in!
"We share the same mission as Johnny Cashew: to have cashews processed locally by a self-sufficient community. We ensure a good salary, but also good secondary employment conditions such as pension, insurance (hopefully for the entire family next year), and language lessons: autonomy is so important! And the guys participate in a soccer team. If it's up to us, Mama Cashew will always remain the most important Tanzanian supplier for Johnny Cashew. We want to show that things can be done differently, and any farmer who wants to can join. Together, we will succeed!”
MAMA CASHEW’S MARIA
Roel, George, and Maria from Mama Cashew, Hayo, Anne Ligthelm from Invest International, and Freek at the factory where it all happens.
Cappi spends a day with the Mamas and the Papas.
what's the living income revolution?
We want all the workers in our supply chain to be paid fairly. The Living Income Reference Price (LIRP) calculates how much a harvest must sell for to ensure that an average household can enjoy a sustainable economic existence. We developed this LIRP with the help of Fairtrade, and worked with Mama Cashew and QSM Agriservices to conduct on-the-ground research with local farming communities to determine a fair price for our cashews. Johnny Cashew is currently the only cashew buyer in the world that pays this price!
(1) Average family/household size.
(2) The cost of a decent living, including healthcare, education, and a nutritious diet.
(3) The cost of sustainable production, including purchase of protective gear, drying tarps, pruning shears, and all the stuff you need to grow and harvest cashews.
(4) Optimal number of trees that can be grown, tended, and harvested. Calculated based on available labour.
(5) Optimal harvest yield.
(6) Other income (cashews are a seasonal product, so a portion of the farmer’s income must come from other sources).
With the LIRP, we have made a significant leap towards economic sustainability for our farmers. Through the extra premium, we can work towards a better existence for every household. And while we don’t want to brag, we hope our transparency about our pricing process will make other producers want to do what we proudly do: pay a fair price for fair labour.
The mentioned price is paid per kilogram of unshelled nuts. For a kilo of edible cashews, you need 4.5 to 5 kilograms of unshelled nuts (those shells are heavy). Through the extra Johnny Cashew premium, the LIRP is paid to the cooperative, and each farmer gets $0.87 per kilogram of cashews.
a goood future
Getting a supply chain back on the straight and narrow isn't easy, so despite the shorter route, we’re far from our final destination. What's next? Let's revisit the pillars:
Zero carbon: Johnny Cashew is fully committed to ending the carbon cashew and creating a carbon-negative chain, with cashew tree projects that absorb more carbon than the chain emits. But there’s a bunch of devilish details to work out, and we plan to work with farmers to further research where carbon savings can be found.
Zero waste: We are producing ice cream and cheese from the cashew dust and the bits that are too small to bag. We also want to find new uses for the cashew apples, shells, and the liquid from the apple. We've already conducted a preliminary study with Wageningen University, which was promising. Watch this space for action!
Zero poverty: We are extending our living wage programme for workers in processing plants. There's a draft benchmark and an action plan, and we’re working on integrating this. We also started translating the Living Income Reference Price to new production areas.
We were cheering from the sidelines when the EU recently approved legislation on supply chain responsibility, like the snappily titled “EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (Johnny just jumps for joy when legislation alliterates). The more transparency we bring to all supply chains, the better!
And last but not least: more volume. In a well-constructed supply chain, every cashew nut we sell makes a positive impact for everyone up and down the chain. More nuts = more impact.
If you’ve read all the way here, you’re probably a cashew nut, or you care deeply about fair wages, sustainability, and climate change. Thanks for following our journey, and thanks for being a part of the cashew revolution!
REFERENCES
01.
N’Kalo. (2022). World Market Figures Cashew Market. N’Kalo Commercial Advisory Service.
02.
N’Kalo. (2022) Cashew Market Bulletin, Issue 350. N’Kalo Commercial Advisory Service.
03. Mwalonge, S. (2022, December 30). Cashew production up by 14%. Daily News. Available at: https://dailynews.co.tz/cashew-production-up-by-14pc/
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). (2021). Commodities at a glance: Special issue on cashew nuts. UNCTAD. Available at: https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ ditccom2020d1_en.pdf
04. Cashewnut Board of Tanzania (CBT). (2020). Tax and Non-Tax Incentives to Cashew Processing Investors. CBT. Available at: https://www.cashew.go.tz/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/TAX-NON-TAX-2-INCENTIVES-V3.pdf
05. African Cashew Alliance (ACA). (2022). Perspectives on Cashew in Africa. ACA. Available at: https://www.africancashewalliance.com/sites/default/files/documents/perspectives_on_cashew_in_ africa_a4_2022.pdf
06. Elbersen, W. Schultze-Jena, A. (2021) Preparing for a circular all-African cashew processing industry for Tanzania. Wageningen University. Available at: https://topsectoragrifood.nl/wp-content/ uploads/2021/12/ SMP21.20-Tanzania-SMP-Cashew-presentation-9-December-2021.pdf
07. Roundtable of Sustainable Biofuels (2022). Assessing the carbon footprint for cashew nut supply chains: a report for Johnny Cashew. Available at: https://johnnycashew.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Johnnycashew-Final-Report.pdf
08. BQ Prime. (2019). Budget 2019: Higher Import Duties on Cashew Kernels to Benefit Industry. Available at: https://www.ndtvprofit.com/union-budget-2019/govt-hikes-import-duty-on-cashew-kernelsto-70-industry-hails
10.
09. Vietnam News. (2023). Cashew Industry Proposes Import Tax on Cashew Kernels. Available at: https:// vietnamnews.vn/economy/1524648/cashew-industry-proposes-import-tax-on-cashew- kernels.html