This week, the Municipal Secretariat of Agriculture of the village of Santo Antônio de Lisboa, Piauí, Brazil, distributed 10,000 seedlings of early dwarf cashew clone CCP 76 to farmers residing in that municipality. The action stemmed from a partnership with the State Secretariat of Family Farming (SAF) and the Viva Semiárido project, which aims to contribute to reducing extreme poverty levels in the rural population of Piauí through production activities. This is the second year in a row that farmers received the material. According to Natália Leal, Municipal Secretary of Agriculture, each farmer received 100 dwarf cashew seedlings. The plants are intended exclusively to be planted as their sale is prohibited. According to Odirlei Cipriano, a supplier who provided the seedlings to the farmers, cashew is extremely important for the town, as it is a mainstay of the local economy. If it weren't for cashew, the population would not have a steady source of income that allowed survival in the region. He adds: “This seedling distribution program is very important at this pandemic times, when prices are low farmer struggle to purchase the seedlings from the private sector”. According to a live broadcast last week, Piauí recorded a fall in cashew nut production. Figures dropped from 23,100 tons in 2020 to 19,000 tons in 2021. The yield also followed the same trend, decreasing from 326 kgs of cashew nuts per hectare to 263 kgs of cashew nuts per hectare in the course of a year. Pedro Andrade, supervisor of Agricultural Research at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) in Piauí, undrescores the need to adopt suitable management aiming at production growth. To learn more about Embrapa's genetic materials, download the folder about cashew clones (PDF file in Portuguese).