Cashew nut kernels cracking plant in Burkina Faso Burkina Faso has an annual production of about 25,000 Mtons of raw cashew nuts which is increasing, however there exists hardly any local processing capacity. This leaves the local farmers vulnerable, with only one market outlet: Ghanaian and Ivory Coast traders who buy the raw nuts for processing in Asia. To counter this trend, there is a need to develop the local processing capacity of cashew nuts.The promoters of the project, TDI from the Netherlands and ANASTASIS in Burkina Faso designed a commercial cashew processing plant in Bobo-Dioulasso, which will produce cashew kernels for export. Both companies are already cooperating and TDI is running a similar project in Benin and Mozambique. Their strategy is to create a relevant volume of tradable cashew nuts through a chain of small factories in the region. The project is unique for Burkina which lacks a serious processing capacity and a business approach which links all the elements in the cashew-chain.The factory shall have a processing capacity of 3,500 Mtons of RCN annually and produce 700 Mtons kernels. The direct spin off will be the creation of at least 500 jobs. 3,500 Farmers will indirectly benefit of the project by a secured purchase of their product against a decent price, which will stimulate the farmers to process cashew nuts of a good quality. In this way value addition to the product is done locally.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Anatrans intends to start processing according to BRC (hygiene) and BSCI (social) standards and the project has been approved by the Authorities according to the "Law of Labour" in Burkina Faso.Furthermore, the factory intends to do more for her employees then only applying to those standards and paying a decent salary. One meal will be provided for every employee and child-day-care will be arranged; Health-care-centre which will provide medicines for factory employees and HIV/AIDS prevention programmes shall be held at factory level and where possible grower group level. Pension and insurances will be arranged for every employee.An internal Code of Conduct will be put in place.The intention of Anatrans is that part of the production will be certified according to FLO and ECOCERT standards. WBI and Anastasis are currently cooperating with Fairmatch Support to arrange certification for certain grower groups. An environmental study is conducted and approved by the Ministry of Environment in Burkina Faso.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsWhen the project ends the factory will employ 378 basic-level and 19 medium-/high-level employees. This should increase to 647 basic-level and 30 medium-/high-level employees two years later.Wages paid to the employees in shelling and peeling are result-based, on basis of well-finished quantities. The rates are applied in such a way that the wages will be 2-5% above the minimum wage. All workers are registered with the CNSS (Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale), which includes an insurance, family care and retirement. For other levels of salary for employees, a grid similar to other similar activities is applied.Implementation of BSCI conditions/regulations will ensure decent working conditions for workers. Furthermore, the company strives to insure all healthcare costs of permanent workers, provides a daily meal and there will be a child-day-care centre. Loan and leasing possibilities for cars and motor cycles will be offered to the permanent staff and management.•	Innovation/Transfer of knowledgeMost of the employees employed by Anatrans have a basic level of education. This means that a lot of knowledge with regards to cashew processing needs to be transferred. They will be trained practically on the job, by traineeships at Afokantan for longer periods. Afterwards the train-the-trainer principle will be used, so that people who did a traineeship will instruct others.Main supplier of machinery Oltremare will set up a service centre in Ivory Coast which will provide on the job trainings with regards to maintenance of machinery. Completely new is the value chain approach of the factory. Producer trainings will be provided by sister company Genèse with information from Anatrans. It will be the first time that there is transparency in sharing facts and figures towards farmers.•	Chain effectsThe people in the region of Bobo-Dioulasso will directly benefit of the project. As they can get jobs with good salaries and working conditions. A lot of value addition will be done to the raw cashew nut which will be an example for other entrepreneurs in the region.The estimation is that approximately 3,500 farmers will benefit from the project in 2013. Farmer organisations will be formed and strengthened. Most farmers will be progressively linked to the production plant.However, when intensifying the agricultural practices in cashew production, more finance is needed for seedlings, pesticides, agricultural equipment, and also investments in quality management equipment like calibrating machines, weighing scales and similar. Farmers group will be supported to find access to credits to satisfy these financing needs, by guaranteed buyback contracts with the factory.•	EnvironmentThe factory was subject to an environmental study which has been approved by the Ministry of Environment in Burkina Faso. On the level of processing, the main risk for the environment are the cashew shells, which is 75% of the weight of the cashew nut. The intention is that the shell will be used as a by-product for the production of energy or for the production of CNSL, for which a future investment is foreseen. Farmers will maintain their field and plant cashew trees that will be in line with the policy of reforestation.Moreover, less transport of cashew nuts is needed before processing, which has positive effects on air pollution.•	Position of womenWBI has a strong focus on empowering women in Africa and experience in Benin learned that in a cashew processing plant 50% of the employees will be women. These women will work on different levels inside the organisation, directly in the processing line, in the management and administrative side. The empowerment of women will result in the fact that they have their own money to expend. To establish a cashew processing plant which shall be able to process 3,500 Mtons raw cashew nuts with an output of 700 Mtons of cashew kernels.