Benin/Agricultural development: A project of 11.6 billion F to boost the cashew industry

3,000 ha of new orchards to be installed, 10,000 ha of old plantations to be rehabilitated and 20 production units to be strengthened. This is the ambition of the Cashew Nut Sector Development and Agricultural Entrepreneurship Support Project (Padefa-Ena) launched last March, with the support of the ADB.

The Support Project for the development of the cashew nut sector and agricultural entrepreneurship (Padefa-Ena) aims to install 3,000 hectares (ha) of new orchards and to rehabilitate 10,000 ha of old plantations through a facilitation and subsidy approach of the Benin National Agricultural Development Fund (Fnda). It is also planned to produce and use grafted cashew seedlings on 15 ha of nurseries.
Launched on March 19 in Dassa-Zoumè, Padefa-Ena is a breath of fresh air for this sector, which has been experiencing difficulties in recent years. Gaston Dossouhoui, Minister of Agriculture, hopes that improving the sector's performance will ensure the population's food and nutritional security in a sustainable manner and contribute to Benin's economic and social development.
Thanks to the project, cashew nut production yield should increase from an average of 350 kg per hectare to 700 kg over the next few years in the case of developed plantations. It will increase from 1000 kg to 1200 kg in a full production year in a few years for the new plantations to be established under the project.
Ten existing cashew apple juice production units and ten cashew nut processing units will be strengthened and modernized. The total processing capacity of the factories is currently estimated at 65,000 tons for a production that reached between 140,000 and 150,000 tons of raw cashew nuts in 2020. But actual processing by the factories on site hardly exceeds 20,000 tonnes, or less than 15% of national production.
The project includes the re-profiling and rehabilitation of 145 kilometres of access roads and the installation of 15 improved water systems for villages and processing units, and the construction and equipment of five storage warehouses with a capacity of 1,000 tonnes each.

10,000 jobs in sight

With a total cost of 11.624 billion CFA francs, the project is financed to the tune of 18.6 million US dollars or about 10.3 billion CFA francs by the African Development Bank (ADB) and the rest by the government of Benin.
The ADB's support is part of its 2017-2021 strategy aimed at reducing poverty and attaining the strategic objectives of the Bank's priorities.The Bank's support is part of its 2017-2021 strategy aimed at reducing poverty and achieving the strategic objectives of the Bank's priorities, namely "Feeding Africa", "Industrializing Africa" and "Improving the quality of life of people in Africa". More specifically, the project will contribute to the sustainable increase in the income of stakeholders and productivity of the cashew nut sector in the agricultural development pole n°4, with the creation of 10,000 jobs for youths and women. It will have a direct impact on more than 75,000 stakeholders in the sector, 30% of whom are women.
The project intervention area covers about 53,097 km², i.e. 46.27% of the national territory, representing more than 87% of national production. It covers 20 communes in four departments. These are Bembèrèkè, Kalalé, N'dali, Nikki, Parakou, Pèrèrè, Sinendé, Tchaourou in Borgou; BantèDassa-zoumé, Glazoué, Ouèssè, Savalou and Savè in the Collines; Bassila, Copargo, Djougou and Ouaké in Donga and Djidja in Zou.

Three components

The five-year project has three main components: restoration and modernization of production assets, processing and marketing, value chain development and business management.
In the implementation, emphasis will be placed on the supervision of producers and the creation of pools of private service providers, the promotion of small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises (SMEs), socio-economic/community infrastructure and the energy component. It is also planned to promote agro-industrial clusters and agricultural entrepreneurship in the value chain through support for securing land, organizing and structuring actors, technical and managerial support to the farmers, and the development of the agricultural sector.technical and managerial support to stakeholders, the establishment of a value chain development fund, access to raw materials, technologies, processing equipment, and market information.
The promotion of information and communication technologies (ICT), support for nutrition, improved marketing and export are also important components of the project, which will promote farming systems that combine cashew with food crops.

Source: lanationbenin.info/