ACA to Commence Project Implementation Under AfTra

The African Cashew Alliance is very excited to be implementing a project under the Africa Trade Fund (AfTra). For years, the African Development Bank (AfDB) through its executing fund, AfTra, has been assisting low income regional member countries of the bank in developing trade-related skills, regulatory regimes, and infrastructure that will enhance their trade performance and competitiveness in order for them to benefit from international trade and market opportunities.  Now, AFDB is using this valuable resource to help the cashew sector. 

The project aims to support African cashew industries in improving product quantity and quality, developing markets in line with international best practices, ensuring that cashew processing is undertaken in an environmentally sustainable manner across the targeted regions, enhancing the economic participation of women in the cashew processing sector, and reducing rural poverty by promoting increased rural incomes through enhanced competitiveness and incomes amongst cashew processors in East and West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mozambique, and Tanzania). The Fund is structured around four strategic pillars which include: (i) improving trade facilitation; (ii) enhancing market access by improving product quality and marketing development; (iii) strengthening country and regional trade-related institutions; and (iv) providing trade advisory services to member countries of the AFDB.

The grant agreement was signed in 2015 and commencement of implementation will start in May 2017 after the completion of the bank’s administrative procedures. The projects objectives are to: 

I. Improve product quality and marketing development in line with international best practices for poverty reduction

II. Increase competitiveness, incomes, and employment for cashew processors in East and West Africa

III. Promote the participation of women in cashew processing

IV. Improve environmental standards and sustainability in African cashew processing

It is expected that by the end of the project at least 1,500 jobs will be created of which 70% will be for women, including supervisory and management roles in cashew processing. ACA also expects that the project will have a positive environmental impact through the implementation of environmentally sustainable practices by cashew processors following the project’s promotion of these practices.