Geographical Characteristics Of Benin
The West-African nation of Benin lies between 6° 10'N and 12° 25'N (latitudes) and 0° 45'E and 3° 55'E (longitudes). It is bordered by the republics of Togo to the West, Nigeria to the East, the Atlantic Ocean to the South, along with Burkina Faso and Niger in the North. It covers an area of 112,622 square kilometers. The population was estimated at twelve million inhabitants with an average density of 108 inhabitants per square kilometer.
In general, the profile of the country is a hilly plateau with a few scattered hills in its Central region and its Northern portion. The altitude also ranges from 400-650 meters above sea level in the NorthWest, where the Atacora chain is the prominent feature. Geologically, the Southern part belongs to the West African continental terminal, having sedimentary rock while the Northern section belongs to the Precambrian shield (from 7 to 7° 30'N to the North), with granite-gneissic rock, which may be found as outcrops.
When it comes to Benin's soil type, there are four main groups of soils, the first being ferralitic soils covered with semi-deciduous forest; the second - ferruginous soils covered with dry forest, woodland and savanna; thirdly - vertisol in Lama depression covered by a particular dry type of semi-deciduous forest, and lastly - hydromorphic soils covered by swamp and riparian forest.
Benin's average annual rainfall ranges from 900 to 1300 millimeters. Its lowest values are recorded in the Southernmost and Northernmost section (900-950 mm). The highest precipitation (1200-1300 mm) is confined to the south-east of Benin as well as the Bassila-Djougou tract. Average annual temperatures vary from 26 to 28 °C and can exceptionally reach 35 to 40 °C in northern localities such as Kandi and Malanville. The annual temperature amplitude is low in the Southern part (5 to 10 °C) while it is higher (11 to 13 °C) in the Northern part (of latitude 8 °N North). As in most West African countries, the climate is mainly determined by the annual cycle of the "Intertropical Convergence Zone" (ITCZ).
Three climatic zones can be broadly distinguished
● The Southern Zone
From the coast to latitude 7 ° N, the climate is Guinean or subequatorial with two rainy seasons alternating with a long dry season (December-February).The abrupt temperate period (July-August) seldom exceeds two months.
● The Transition Zone
Between latitudes 7 ° and 9 ° N, the climate becomes sub humid or subsudanian with a tendency to a pattern of a rainy season and a dry season.
Both precipitation peaks tend to merge into a single peak, indicating a unimodal rainfall pattern.
● The Northern Zone
This region is characterized by a truly Sudanese climate with a unimodal rainfall diet. The rainy season lasts 7 months (on average) and covers the period April-October with the optimum around August / September.
Geographical Features Of The Nigerian State Of Oyo (Location Of Ogbomosho City)
The Nigerian State of Oyo covers an area of close to thirty thousand square kilometers and is ranked as the fourteenth largest Nigerian state. Geologically, the region consists of old hard rocks and dome-shaped hills, which rise gently from about five hundred meters in the southern part and reach a height of about thousand two hundred meters above sea level in its Northern half. A lot of major rivers originate from this plateau. The state is also home to the Old Oyo National Park, which was previous habitat for the endangered African wild dog, however, it is believed that this canid has been locally extirpated at present.
As far as the climatic conditions of Oyo state goes, the weather is predominantly equatorial, especially with temperate and moist periods with moderately high humidity levels. The arid period persists from the months of November until March, while the rainy season commences from the month of April and concludes in October. In Oyo State, the average daily temperature fluctuates from 25 ° C to 35 ° C, throughout most of the year.
Cashew Cultivation In Ogbomosho City
Nigeria is one of the globe's leading producers of raw cashews, with an estimated annual export volume of close to two hundred million dollars and untapped potential of over a hundred and fifty million dollars. Over 220,000 tonnes of cashews at an estimated 144.7 billion Nigerian Naira, were exported in 2017. In the first half of 2019, cashews became the country's third largest agricultural export, behind only its other agricultural produce such as cocoa and sesame seeds.
Unrealized Potential
But despite the product's promises, its potential is not yet fully exploited, due to several factors including lack of capacity, poor storage facilities for cashew fruit and many others. This is apparent from the fact that around eight million tonnes of fruit are wasted each year.
The cashew producing states are Kaduna, Abia, Kogi, Enugu, Kwara, Oyo, Niger, Imo and Abuja FCT. But while Kogi leads the pack among producing states, accounting for 60% of the country’s total production, Oyo state, and Ogbomoso, to be precise, is Nigeria's most promising cashew producing region. Largely unknown throughout the world, Ogbomoso is the home of the best quality cashews, which has only recently started to win the recognition of the world's most prominent importing countries.
Ogbomosho's Secret To Cashew Cultivation - Favorable Cashew Conditions
On careful observation, it is easy to see why Ogbomoso produces the best cashews in terms of taste and quality in all of Nigeria - the favorable geographical (soil and climate) conditions.
The city's cashews have a much better commercial value than those from other parts of the country. Cashew cultivators also reap much more benefits from investing in cashews in Ogbomoso than anywhere else in the country.
Most farms in this region devote at least a third or more of their entire agricultural land towards the cultivation of cashews, reserving the rest for other popular cash crops and animal husbandry. It is estimated that as much as seventy percent of all the agricultural land sold in Nigeria, is used for growing cashews.
Growing cashews, particularly in the city of Ogbomosho in Oyo state, is one of the most profitable long-term agricultural investments that can be made in Nigeria. While in the short term, the style of spacing used creates room for intercropping with other crops like soybeans, corn, peanuts, watermelon, etc. For those who are keen on getting into the cashew cultivation business cashew trees, opportunities galore. Most cashew cultivators in Ogbomosho export their harvests as raw cashews to India and Vietnam.
One of the many reasons for the marketability of Ogbomosho cashews, specifically for the cashew cultivators in this region, being so low is the cost of land clearing. This has always been one of the major challenges that farmers and cashew cultivators throughout Oyo state, not just Ogbomosho city, have continued to face. There have been appeals from across the country's agricultural sector for the Nigerian federal government to replicate the intervention made to the palm oil sector in the cashew cultivation, as well. The need for the Government to encourage clever cashew production, harvesting, shipping, and exporting will definitely put Ogbomosho cashews on the global map.
Minuscule Differences Between Highly Popular Benin Cashews & Ogbomosho Cashews
‘Benin Cashews Vs Ogbomosho Cashews’
While Beninese cashews are highly sought after by cashew retailers from all over the globe (particularly in India and the sub-continent) for their incredible taste, superior shippability, high nutritional content, and long shelf-life, the existence of Ogbomosho cashews is largely unknown amongst these same retailers. Why? Because of many reasons including poor marketability, lack of awareness, frequent price fluctuations, lack of coordination amongst cultivators, harvesters, warehouse and storage facility managers, shipping firms, and foreign importers (which has already been discussed above).
Another factor for the weaker popularity of cashews from Ogbomosho, is the misconception that these cashews are nothing compared to Beninese cashews, when in fact Ogbomosho cashews are as good as, if not better, than their Beninese counterparts.
How? Simply, because of the geographical similarities of the South Eastern region of Benin (which is its largest cashew growing area) and the city of Ogbomosho in Nigeria's Oyo state. In fact these two areas are separated by less than 300 kilometers. As seen from above, the climatic, soil and ecological conditions of both these regions are vastly identical.
Owing to these ecological similarities between these two regions, it is easy to see why the quality of cashews grown in Benin and the quality of cashews grown in Nigeria's Ogbomosho city, cannot be and as a matter of fact, are not, very different from each other.
The only difference between these two varieties of cashews lie -
● in their countries of origin (one variety being grown in Nigeria, and the other being grown in Benin),
● the perceptibility of both these cashews in the international market (Beninese cashews being more popular because of the exceptional marketing and world-class exporting culture practiced by Beninese cashew cultivators),
● their prices (Beninese cashews being way more expensive than their Nigerian counterparts owing to their high demand in the international market).
An Window Of Opportunity For Indian Cashew Retailers
Seeing as how cashews grown in the city of Ogbomosho in Nigeria are not very different in terms of taste, nutritional value, size, and shippability, but vastly different in terms of price and perceptibility, Indian cashew retailers now have an incredible chance to exploit Ogbomosho's slowly but surely growing cashew market.
Right now, with Ogbomosho's increasing popularity in the global cashew market, there exists a window of opportunity for Indian retailers to exploit by procuring and starting to retail Ogbomosho cashews.
Selve's cashews leads the country in importing high-grade Ogbomosho cashews. Our world-class processing capabilities, storage facilities and extensive network of shipping & logistics partners, is what makes us highly sought after as cashew supplier partners by cashew retailers, not just in India, but even the world over. get in touch with us right away, to get your batch of incredible Ogbomosho cashews, shipped to your location.