📋 Tender Overview
Contract partner: SHA - Self Help Africa
Country: Burkina Faso Funding amount: € 1.012.986,00
Project start: 01.12.2024
End: 30.11.2027
SHORT DESCRIPTION:
Overall goal
Improved living conditions of women in cashew nut production areas in the Cascades and Hauts-Bassins regions (Houet, Comoé, Kénédougou and Léraba provinces).
Expected results
1. Improved productivity of cashew nut orchards and of the performance of local cashew nut and by-product processing units
2. Strengthened organisation and socio-economic empowerment of small-scale producers and processors to improve their integration into the cashew nut value chain and improve market access
Target group / Beneficiaries
The project will operate in ten communes of the Cascades and Hauts-Bassins regions of Burkina Faso, benefiting 6,535 women as direct beneficiaries. It will work with women's cooperatives and mixed cooperatives that received support in five communes in the first phase of the project and women's cooperatives and mixed cooperatives in five new communes. At least 30% of the beneficiaries will be aged between 18-35 years.
Activities
Improving cashew nut orchard productivity will be achieved through the combined effect of applying the knowledge acquired on good production practices, in particular improving soil fertility through the production and use of compost, preventive pest control through ecological pest control products, the use of grafted seedlings for planting, the grafting of cashew trees in old orchards, and promoting the use of good harvesting and storage practices. As for improving the performance of local cashew nut and by-product processing units, this will be achieved by providing small-scale processors with improved nut and apple processing equipment.
The professionalisation of women to enable them to participate more fully in the development of the cashew nut value chain will be achieved through sustained, local support for their organisation into cooperatives and their support in the development and use of specific tools to enable them to benefit even more economically from their activities. This will include, for example, support to creating savings through village savings and loan associations, product promotion through the organisation of promotional days, and the development of new marketing approaches.
Context
The cashew tree represents a major economic challenge for Burkina Faso, where cashew is currently the second most exported agricultural product after cotton. Around 45,000 farming households derive most of their income from the sale of cashew nuts. The cashew industry is particularly important in rural areas, with the four main producing regions being Cascades, Sud-Ouest, Hauts-Bassins and Centre-Ouest. Generally speaking, production and ownership of orchards are largely controlled by men, while women account for the majority of jobs in processing.
