Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire Côte d’Ivoire secures USD 28.7M investment to boost cashew processing industry from three foreign companies, marking a significant step toward boosting local processing capabilities.
The investment deals were finalized during the Cashew Sector Investment Forum, held by the CCA on September 23 in Abidjan.
TORQ Commodities, a UK-based commodity trader, committed USD 10 million to the project. In addition, a consortium formed by India’s Zantye Agro Industries and Austria’s Münzer agreed to invest USD 11.2 million, while Agricas Global, an agricultural commodities trader from the UAE, pledged USD 7.5 million.
These investments aim to support Côte d’Ivoire’s efforts to process more of its cashew nuts locally. “The added value we could achieve through local processing remains under-exploited,” said Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, the Minister of Agriculture.
He emphasized that only 21% of cashews produced in the country are currently processed locally, falling short of the government’s ambitious goal of processing 50% by 2030.
Côte d’Ivoire’s government has placed considerable emphasis on increasing the local processing of cashew nuts, a move seen as critical for job creation and economic growth.
According to the General Directorate of Customs, Ivorian exports of cashew nuts and almonds generated USD 1.3 billion in revenue in 2023. However, only USD 217 million of this amount came from processed cashew kernels.
Minister Adjoumani acknowledged the gap between production and processing, stressing the need for further investment to meet national targets. “Our processing rate in 2023 is still far from our goal. With more investment, we believe this will change over time.”
The global cashew market is dominated by processing giants like Vietnam and India. These countries benefit from advanced technology and lower production costs, making it harder for African producers to compete.
Despite these challenges, Côte d’Ivoire is positioning itself as a leader in African cashew processing, ranking third globally.
According to projections from the CCA, the country is expected to harvest 1 million tons of cashew nuts in 2024.
As Côte d’Ivoire continues to increase production, its government is working to enhance the local industry through both public and private partnerships.
This includes the promotion of policies aimed at attracting more foreign investment, improving local processing facilities, and ensuring the sector remains competitive.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Africa beyond 2025.
The Director-General was invited to participate in a G7 panel session with agriculture ministers in Syracuse, Italy, on how best to support Africa’s post-Malabo agenda. Agreed by African heads of state and government at the 2014 African Union Summit in Equatorial Guinea, the Malabo Agenda set out an ambitious list of concrete agricultural goals to be achieved by 2025.
“In 2023, more than one in five Africans were affected by hunger, amounting to nearly 300 million people,” said Qu and added that “without accelerated action and increased resource mobilization, it is projected that the number of people facing hunger in Africa will rise by an additional 10 million by 2030.” The continent remains the most food-insecure region in the world, with 58 percent of its population experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity.
“Success is possible,” Qu said, “but we need to all work together, across the continent and with all partners if we are to achieve the transformation of African agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable.”
Looking ahead, FAO remains committed to supporting the post-Malabo process, which highlights the necessity for a comprehensive transformation of the continent’s agrifood systems that effectively, efficiently, and coherently addresses food insecurity, poverty, and the impacts of the climate crisis.
FAO’s involvement in Africa
FAO has always supported the Malabo Process and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. Since 2017, it has been collaborating with the African Union Commission to contribute to the Programme’s biennial reporting mechanism, providing capacity-building for monitoring the Malabo Declaration’s commitment to enhancing the resilience of livelihoods and production systems to the impacts of the climate crisis and other related risks.
This work has been carried out using FAO’s Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis through the provision of technical support to country experts, mapping national household data for all of Africa’s 54 countries, and conducting several training sessions. Recently, FAO has launched a digital toolkit designed to empower countries to generate the required indicators.
“I wish to reaffirm FAO’s continued focus and commitment to supporting Africa in achieving the post-Malabo agenda,” said the Director-General.
After January 2025, FAO’s existing data, tools, and approaches will support the design, implementation, and tracking of the post-Malabo agenda.
For example, FAO’s policy monitoring and public expenditure analysis will help governments track their commitments and optimize their policies. Furthermore, the FAO Global Roadmap to achieving SDG2 without breaching the 1.5°C threshold will ensure that the continent’s actions align with and benefit from the global agenda.
FAO’s support extends beyond providing knowledge and evidence to countries. It is also driving changes on the ground. For example, the FAO Flagship Hand-In-Hand Initiative supports 40 countries across the continent.
The Director-General said this year’s Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, which is due to take place in mid-October at FAO’s headquarters in Rome under the umbrella of the World Food Forum 2024, will witness 13 African countries engage with investors to accelerate transformation through concrete projects.
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group on 20 September 2024 approved a $129.71 million loan to Tanzania for the implementation of a youth-focused agribusiness program.
The loan will fund the first phase of the “Building a Better Tomorrow: Youth Initiatives for Agribusiness” program, which aims to create business opportunities and jobs for young people in key agricultural sectors.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $241.27 million. In addition to the Bank’s loan, which covers 53,76 percent of the cost, the funding package includes grants of $1.15 million from the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Trust Fund and $210,000 from tropical vegetable seed firm East-West Seed. The Tanzanian government will provide $110.41 million, representing 45.76 percent of the total.
Patricia Laverley, the Bank’s Country Manager for Tanzania, said: “This project is expected to incubate and empower approximately 11,000 ‘agripreneurs,’ including at least 6,000 young agribusiness owners.” She added that the program will facilitate access to finance for an additional 2,500 young people already involved in agribusiness but lacking access to commercial loans. We expect each agribusiness run by a young person will employ an average of five workers.”
The project will implement strategies to raise awareness and manage knowledge using youth-oriented information and communication technologies. It will also provide training and support for agrifood business incubation and acceleration, with a particular focus on the recruitment of female applicants.
Digital technologies, including satellite technology and artificial intelligence, will be utilized to improve agricultural productivity and decision-making processes for young farmer cooperatives.
As of 30 June 2024, the African Development Bank approved 25 projects in Tanzania, with a total commitment of $3.48 billion.
Sierra Leone is ramping up investments to position itself as a key player in the global food export market. Located near major cocoa-producing countries like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and sharing a similar climate, Sierra Leone has strong potential to become a significant exporter of commodities such as cocoa, cashew, rice, and cassava.
However, the country faces several challenges. According to the World Food Programme, a staggering 82.3% of the population is food insecure. Additionally, due to inadequate processing infrastructure, Sierra Leone imports a large amount of rice to meet domestic demand.
To address these issues, the country recently secured $100 million in funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB), building on an existing $480 million in investments from OPEC and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA). This new investment is part of Sierra Leone’s ambitious strategy to overhaul its food system, reduce food insecurity, and ultimately become a major food exporter.
How Will the Funding Be Used?
The recent AfDB funding will contribute to Sierra Leone’s broader ‘Feed Salone’ initiative, which is a collaborative effort involving contributions from the government, NGOs, and private sector investors. The initiative is designed to transform the country’s food production system, focusing on both addressing food insecurity and enhancing its export potential.
According to Dr. Henry Musa Kpaka, Sierra Leone’s Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, the project is conservatively estimated at $1.8 billion in total. This comprehensive approach seeks to build essential infrastructure that can support the country’s agricultural ambitions and help alleviate its reliance on food imports.
How Will the Funding Reduce Food Insecurity?
Sierra Leone’s rice consumption per capita is one of the highest in the world, with an average of 131 kg per person per year. Although the country is currently 65-70% rice self-sufficient, the lack of adequate processing facilities forces it to rely heavily on imports to close the gap. In fact, about one-third of Sierra Leone’s food import bill is spent on rice alone.
Another challenge is that some of the country’s domestically produced rice is exported to neighboring countries like Guinea, Liberia, and Senegal. Some farmers even agree to sell their rice before it is harvested, making it harder for Sierra Leone to meet its own demand.
To become fully self-sufficient in rice production, Sierra Leone needs to develop agro-processing zones, build better roads for transportation, and establish access to energy and irrigation systems. Investments in these critical areas could significantly boost production. For instance, according to Dr. Kpaka, improved irrigation could double rice yields from two tons per hectare to four.
This funding and infrastructure development are pivotal steps toward Sierra Leone’s goal of addressing food insecurity, reducing its dependence on imports, and positioning itself as a key agricultural exporter in the region.
Source: Food Navigator | Photo Credit: Getty Images/WS Studio
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The Common African Agro-Parks Programme (CAAPs) is aimed at boosting regional trade for agricultural commodities by increasing locally processing of key agricultural products. The CAAPs will help Africa take over the African Food Import Market of about USD50 billion per annum that is currently outsourced to the rest of the world. Read more at https://faraafrica.org/caaps/
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has approved $102.79 million in funding for a pioneering initiative aimed at promoting sustainable agriculture across Guinea, Senegal, and Togo. This substantial investment will bolster the Multinational Program for Promoting Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains in Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), focusing on areas like climate change adaptation and renewable energy integration.
The funding will drive several key projects, including the Togo Agro-Industrial Transformation Project, Senegal’s Agropole-Sud, and the Boké and Kankan Special Agro-Industrial Transformation Zones Development Program in Guinea. These initiatives are set to enhance climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the respective regions.
One of the main components of the investment includes supporting small-scale irrigation systems, covering around 39,179 hectares of agricultural land. Additionally, the program will install renewable energy equipment, such as 2.59 megawatts (MW) of solar power and 10.24 MW of biogas energy, both of which will play a crucial role in powering irrigation systems and facilitating biogas production from livestock manure. These improvements are expected to significantly increase energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint.
“Climate change risk has escalated across the continent, and this financing from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) will address the urgent need to support rural communities facing climate-related challenges by leveraging proven technologies,” said Kazuhiro Numasawa, Division Manager of SAPZ Operations at the African Development Bank.
The initiative also places a strong emphasis on supporting women and youth in the agriculture and food sectors. It includes training programs for women to adopt innovative irrigation methods, as well as access to climate information services and low-carbon technologies for drying, processing, and packaging agricultural produce.
The program is expected to directly benefit over 1 million farmers, while indirectly impacting a total of 5.6 million people across the three countries. At least 50% of the beneficiaries are anticipated to be women, reflecting the project’s strong commitment to gender equality.
Each of the target countries stands to gain unique advantages from the initiative:
In Guinea, the fresh produce sector is ripe with potential but faces challenges due to infrastructure limitations and restricted access to finance. By addressing these issues, the program will help enhance Guinea’s export capabilities for products like bananas, pineapples, and mangoes.
Senegal, with its favourable climate for agriculture, continues to expand its fruit and vegetable exports. Initiatives like the urban micro gardens program in Dakar highlight the country’s efforts in local food production, even as it works to improve export capabilities.
Togo is focusing on developing agricultural zones to boost production efficiency. Programs like the Agricultural Development Support Programme (PADAT) and the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP-Togo) are helping to enhance productivity and provide essential training to farmers.
This investment by the AfDB is a critical step in addressing climate change, empowering rural communities, and fostering sustainable agricultural development across the region.
The Common African Agro-Parks Programme (CAAPs) is aimed at boosting regional trade for agricultural commodities by increasing locally processing of key agricultural products. The CAAPs will help Africa take over the African Food Import Market of about USD50 billion per annum that is currently outsourced to the rest of the world. Read more at https://faraafrica.org/caaps/
