Raw cashew nut drying systems in Burkina Faso
What the crop demands, what the country imposes, and what that means for capacity.
Burkina’s cashew sector sits in the Cascades and Hauts-Bassins alongside the mango, and shares its infrastructure and often its operators. Almost all of the crop leaves as raw nut for processing in Asia, which means the country exports the outturn premium along with the nut and imports none of the shelling value back.
The situation in Burkina Faso
Landlocked, so every tonne of finished product travels by road to Abidjan, Lomé or Tema before it reaches a ship. That single fact shapes the whole processing case: fresh fruit cannot make the journey, dried fruit can, and the margin sits with whoever removes the water before the truck leaves. Grid supply outside the two main cities is intermittent enough that a drying plan built around electric heat is a drying plan built around a generator.
Growing regions. Cascades, Hauts-Bassins and Comoé — Orodara, Banfora and Bobo-Dioulasso
What raw cashew nut drying demands
Raw cashew nut is bought on outturn — the kernel yield a buyer can expect from a tonne of nut — and outturn is destroyed by moisture. Above 10 % the nut moulds in the bag on a six-week sea voyage; too dry and the kernel becomes brittle and breaks at shelling, which costs grade. The 8–10 % window is narrow and is worth several hundred dollars a tonne.
Harvest calendar
March to June, peaking in April. It overlaps the mango season almost exactly, which is an opportunity and a constraint at once — the same labour and the same yard are contested.
The working campaign window as the trade runs it. It shifts a fortnight either way with the rains.
Process parameters
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Drying temperature | 45–55 °C |
| Final moisture | 8–10 % |
| Yield (fresh : dried) | 1.15 : 1 |
| Cycle time | 8–14 h |
Sizing starting points from ordinary processing practice, not a validated recipe for your product. Confirm against your own intake and your buyer’s specification.
Worked sizing example
For a unit taking 8 tonnes of fresh product a day, at a yield of 1.15 : 1:
Illustrative figures calculated from the yield and campaign window above. They size a conversation; they do not describe any existing installation.
Fuel available in Burkina Faso
Burkina combines cashew shell (Cascades, Hauts-Bassins), abundant cotton stalk after the cotton campaign, and shea cake. Mango peel supplements during the mango campaign itself.
- Base load. Cashew shell · Cotton stalk · Shea cake and shell
- Supplement. Corn cob · Groundnut shell · Sesame stalk · Dried mango peel
See all 27 fuels and their properties
Market and buyer requirements
Raw nut buyers shipping to India and Vietnam, purchasing on outturn — the kernel yield expected per tonne. Moisture above 10 % risks mould over a six-week voyage; below 8 % the kernel turns brittle and breaks at shelling.
Explore further
The systems that hold this profile
Other crops in Burkina Faso
Mango · Shea · Tomato · Onion · Sesame
Raw cashew nut drying elsewhere
🇨🇮 Côte d'Ivoire · 🇬🇭 Ghana · 🇸🇳 Senegal · 🇧🇯 Benin · 🇹🇬 Togo
Frequently asked questions
What moisture should raw cashew nut be shipped at?
8 to 10 %. Above that the nut moulds in the bag on a six-week sea passage; below it the kernel becomes brittle and breaks during shelling, which costs whole-kernel grade. The window is narrow and worth several hundred dollars a tonne on outturn.
Can the same chamber dry both mango and cashew?
Yes, though in Burkina their seasons overlap heavily — both run March to June. Cashew needs 45–55 °C against mango’s 65–70 °C, so it is a setpoint change rather than a different machine, but capacity has to cover both or one crop waits.
Is cashew shell worth keeping as fuel?
It is the design fuel for our burner, at 4,800 kcal/kg with ash under 3 %. A shelling operation generating its own shell has the best fuel position of any processor in the region — the residue that would need disposal becomes the heat source.
Size a unit in Burkina Faso
Tell us your daily fresh volume and target output, and we will size the chambers, the burner and the fuel available around your site.
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