Bissau, Guinea Bissau, 26 April – the government of Guinea Bissau Thursday set the price of cashew nuts, the country’s main export product and one of the Guinean state’s most important sources of revenue, at the local currency equivalent of US$0.43 per kilo.

The news of the price setting was anno0unced to the press by Finance Minister, Issuf Sanhá, at the end of a series of meetings held by the new government to discuss the cashew problem.

With the price now set conditions have been set up to launch the cashew sales campaign, a measure which was awaited by farmers, traders and exporters, Sanhá said.

The government also set a series of “control measures” as a way of “disciplining” the 2007 sales campaign, namely the banning of distribution of the product via land borders and opening of credit lines to help local business owners to buy cashews.

The last cashew sales campaign was a failures due to the previous government having set a price of US$0.75 per kilo, which made it difficult to sell the product, as the buyers said the price was too high.

Authorized surveys show that around 80 percent of the Guinean population lives either directly or indirectly from cashew production. (macauhub)