ABSTRACT
Cashew production is the main economic activity in the small West African nation-state of Guinea-Bissau. However, there are competing views about its future potential and deleterious present. This chapter examines the multifaceted political ecology of cashews in the country, using historical, environmental, policy, livelihood, and development perspectives to challenge the prevailing ideas of comparative advantage that are driving the contemporary national cashew policy. The study is based on secondary and primary data from surveys, focus group discussions, expert interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork conducted through long-term engagement in the country. The comprehensive political ecology approach used in this chapter contrasts the mono-dimensional lens of the comparative advantage narrative and shows clearly the integrated nature of emergent vulnerabilities and future potentials associated with cashew production in the country. Cashew pomiculture in Guinea-Bissau is an agent of ecological, agrarian, and socioeconomic transformation that continues to shape livelihoods, ecosystems, and global engagements since independence from Portugal in 1974. There is a need for thoughtful practice to mediate the historically ineffective policy, especially when finding ways to minimize the negative impacts of the current cashew monoculture, while at the same time protecting biodiversity, improving livelihoods, and developing sustainable, diverse, and competitive cashew industries.
