Tropentag, October 6 - 8, 2009 in Hamburg "Biophysical and Socio-economic Frame Conditions for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources"

Upgrading of the African Cashew Subsector: Synopsis of the Strategy of Value Chain Promotion in Benin

Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), Conservation and Management of Natural Resources (ProCGRN), Benin

Abstract

Value chain promotion is a central element of Benin's policy to create pro-poor growth on the basis of a competitive agriculture. “Cashew” is one among 12 chosen subsectors.
The ValueLinks approach - developed by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) - has been applied to selected value chains of the cashew subsector by private-public working groups. Participatory analysis focusing on selected value chains identified upgrading projects (drafts) comprising a joint upgrading vision, fields and activities of improvement, and next steps towards their validation by a larger value chain community at national level. During the final workshop, attended by more than 100 representatives from private and public sectors as well as donors, the necessity for harmonisation of the diverse support assets provided by the government and development programs has been largely recognised. Temporary coordination structures under private leadership, i.e. lead enterprises and professional organisations with support from governmental organisations and development partners, have been established to implement the next steps prior to the validation events that will include a larger and more representative value chain community.
For scaling up, a new project implemented by GTZ in cooperation with African Cashew is established in five sub-Sahara African countries. This new project is expected to create, 5,500 new jobs in cashew processing within four years and an additional 15 million US-Dollars in revenues per year generated by 150,000 small-scale cashew producers.
To achieve these objectives and to strengthen the competitiveness of the African cashew subsector, the stakeholders must join their forces, talents, and experiences to promote value chains by enforcing the public and private partnership in terms of sustainable capacity building.

Keywords: African cashew, public and private partnership, value chains promotion

Contact Address: Bernard Philibert Agbo, German Technical Cooperation, Program of Conservation and Management of Natural Resources in Benin (ProCGRN - GTZ), 08 Bp 1132, Cotonou, Benin, e-mail: bernard.agbogtz.de