Obollo-Afor, the headquarters of Udenu Local Government Area in Enugu State is known for production of cashew nuts, avocado pears, plantain, banana, mangoes, among others.
Today, cashew nut production has placed the community on a global scale.
People troop to Obollo-Afor from all over the world to buy the commodity.
Consumers from Europe, America and Asia, as well as other African countries, scramble over the cashew nuts from Obollo-Afor from time to time.
From being something the locals cherish to consume a lot, cashew nut has gradually transformed to an economic backbone of the people, with hundreds relying partly or wholly on it for their upkeep and survival.
In the past, the people used it partly as food, and partly as kola to entertain visitors. But today, the story has changed; it now serves as a means of livelihood to many people.
Of all other businesses in the area, cashew nut business is believed to be the highest employer of labour.
Apart from Obollo-Afor, cashew nuts can also be found in Orba, Ibagwa, Igbo-Eze modern market, Oghe and 9th Mile Corner market, all in Enugu State.
As of 2016, Nigeria had become the sixth largest producer of raw cashew nuts in the world, producing about 120,000 metric tonnes every year.
Today, the figure has risen. According to the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC), Ezra Yakusak, Nigeria exported 315,677 metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts valued at $252 million, accounting for 5.24 percent of the country’s non-oil export in 2022.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also disclosed that in the first quarter of 2023, N27.1 billion of cashew nuts in the shell were exported, with the Republic of Vietnam topping the list, while N6.8 billion of cashew nuts shelled were exported.
As early as 6:00 am every Afor-market day, which comes up every four days, the cashew nut market in Obollo has started booming.
People come with raw cashew nuts from as far as Benue and Kogi states, as well as the neighbouring communities of Amalla and Ezimo, both in the same Udenu Local Government Area.
The interesting thing about the business is that before 8:00 am, the market has already become deserted, such that anybody passing through the place would not know that just a few moments ago, people were humming like bees in that particular spot.
All the buyers, sellers and onlookers that hustle and bustle a few moments ago, had all dispersed.
