Just returned from the annual meeting of the African Cashew Alliance in Abidjan. What started as a small group of like minded four years ago has grown tremendously with more than 160 congress participants out of more all African producing countries. This year even official delegations where present from the of major countries; India, Vietnam and Brasil. The global cashew is starting to take the African Cashew sector seriously!
Major issues were discussed; like the financing of the processing industry, improvement of the production, marketing etc.
The event was used as well to discuss the progress of the start of the African Cashew Initiative (ACI). This is unique collaboration between the private sector, implementing agencies like GTZ, Technoserve, ACA, FairMatch Support and major Funding Agencies like the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation. The ACI is a four year joint project to give an extra boost to the African cashew industry in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin and Mozambique. FairMatch Support has to develop 'specialty markets' for cashew producers. This means organizing farmers, link them processors, get them certified organic or fair trade and find final markets. A real challenge!
We used the week as well for internal planning for our implementing team from Mozambique, Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso and discussed the implementing strategies. It was great to have the whole team in one room; a lot of expertise with input from various angles.
On the flight back I realized we moved fast since we started this project 2,5 years ago. A lot has to be done to make it successful but some key elements are there to make it a real success.
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