The
United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food For Progress (FFPr)
Regional Cashew Value Chain Project is implementing a $38 million, six-year
project in The Gambia, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau which will enhance the
regional cashew value chain to improve the trade of processed cashews in local
and international markets. On January
29, 2020 U.S. Ambassador to The Gambia R. Carl Paschall and The Gambia’s
Minister of Trade, Regional Integration, Industry and Employment, Lamin Jobe,
spoke at a launch ceremony in Dakar, Senegal for the USDA’s Food for Progress
regional cashew value chain project, also called the Linking Infrastructure,
Finance, and Farms to Cashews (LIFFT-Cashew).
At the launch event, numerous government officials, as well as private
sector leaders from The Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, discussed the
regional integration of the cashew value chain.
The
United States was represented by both the U.S. Ambassador to The Gambia,
Richard Carlton Paschall III, and the U.S. Ambassador to Senegal and
Guinea-Bissau, Tulinabo Salama Mushingi. Both U.S. Ambassadors emphasized the
need for collaboration between the three countries. Ambassador Paschall
highlighted the importance of creating opportunities for producers and
processors to boost economic development and working together to meet the needs
of local and international markets. In his remarks, Ambassador Paschall said:
“I believe that government policy that encourages market-led development and
regional integration of the cashew sector, through the private sector, is
critical to integrate the cashew value chain and achieve the project’s
goal. This will help stimulate economic
development and incite the creation of jobs here in the region by meeting
market demand requirements.” Ambassador
Mushingi echoed this message by reciting the well-known proverb: “If you want
to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In turn, the government representatives of
the beneficiary countries stressed the importance of adding value to their
region’s cashew sector, as only approximately 5-6 percent of their produced
cashew nut is processed locally. Facilitating
the processing of cashew nuts within the region will create new jobs and
increase incomes, attract more investment to the cashew sector, and create
sustainable socio-economic development.
After
the opening ceremony, workshop participants discussed key issues for the cashew
sector, including access to finance, market linkages between cooperatives and
processors, organic certification, and government strategies to facilitate
regional integration. During the group
breakout session, government officials discussed regional integration and the three
governments’ roles in supporting cashew value chain actors. The private sector group, which consisted of
farmer cooperatives, processors, investors and financial institutions,
discussed the challenges and opportunities they face, the importance of linkages
between the value chain actors, and the support they need from their
governments in supporting collective sales, processing and exports.
These
private sector participants and government officials will continue their
collaboration as project LIFFT-Cashew progresses to pave the way for increased
regional integration of the cashew value chain and increased trade in processed
cashews.
