Supporting the Cashew Sector
TechnoServe is working with the German Agency for International Cooperation and Development (GIZ) under the African Cashew Initiative (ACI) project to strengthen and expand the cashew processing industry in Cote d’Ivoire. As a result of TechnoServe’s work between 2009 and 2012, ACI processors have sustained over 3,500 jobs, generated over $5 million in wages and have sold an additional 4,100 metric tons of kernel worth over $33.5 million. ACI is a multi-year program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development to strengthen the competitiveness of cashew value chains in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana Benin, Burkina Faso and Mozambique. ACI aims to improve the livelihoods of cashew communities in target countries by helping farmers to increase their incomes and helping processors to increase the volumes of raw cashew nuts processed, thereby increasing the number of jobs in these communities.
In 2013, TechnoServe signed a contract with the United Nations for Industrial Development (UNIDO) to improve the competitiveness of the cashew sector and facilitate its access to export markets in Côte d'Ivoire. The specific purpose of the mission is (i) to improve the productivity of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives and (ii) initiate the process of establishing a quality label "cashew kernel of Côte d'Ivoire". The beneficiaries are members of a consortium export and all SMEs and cooperatives processing cashew.