ComCashew Board meeting: Exciting Consensus among ComCashew Board members regarding processing vision for Africa

The ComCashew Board made up of actors in the cashew sector held its last meeting of the year on 16.09.2024 at Azalai hotel in the City of Cotonou-Benin, a day before the official opening of the 18th ACA Annual Conference and Exposition. This was an interactive hybrid meeting with both private and public Board members. The MOVE/ComCashew donors BMZ, EU and OACPS joined the meeting online.

 

The board meeting was chaired and moderated by Mrs. Beate Weiskopf, the Project Leader of GIZ/MOVE-ComCashew.

 

Opening remarks came from Mrs Jeanne Lätt from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Mr. Luis Rodriguez from the European Union (EU-DG INTPA) and Mrs. Yvonne Chileshe from the Organization of the African Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) who all joined virtually. Their intervention was centred on the rich debates that always come out of the board meeting and reiterated their interest in building synergies in the sector.  They recognized the private sector to be the engine of the Cashew value chain and hence must be supported by conducive frameworks and operations.

 

The Board also welcomed its new member; Mr Mamadou Cissokho, initiator of the Network of Farmers’ Organisations and Agricultural Producers of West Africa (ROPPA) is the first farmer representative on the board. He emphasized in his presentation the need to strengthen farmer organizations in the value chain and local consumption.

 

Core part of the board meeting was an update and discussion on the cashew market and the reflection of a vision for the African cashew processing. The importance to further strengthen African Cashew processing was unanimously agreed among board members.

 

Mr Ernest Mintah, from the African Cashew Alliance, closed the meeting by thanking Mrs. Rita Weidinger, Head of the MOVE project, on behalf of the board and acknowledging her instrumental role for the development of the cashew value chain in Africa and the results achieved so far. Her strong legacy, her passion for the sector and her strong engagement with all actors across the chain and countries involved in the project was key in this process. Rita Weidinger is now handing over to her successor Beate Weiskopf, who is working since many years on Value chains in Africa, especially cocoa with rich experience in working with private sector.