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- ItemCommunal Approach to the Agricultural Market in Benin - Approche Communale pour le Marche Agricole au Benin(2019-02) IFDCThis document discusses the challenges faced by Benin in achieving economic growth despite its agricultural development potential. It highlights the country's high poverty rates, food insecurity, and limited access to income-earning opportunities. The agricultural sector, which forms the backbone of Benin's economy, has the potential to benefit from the growing demand for agricultural products in neighboring Nigeria. However, economic actors in Benin face various challenges in accessing the Nigerian market, including regulatory barriers, lack of information, and inadequate infrastructure. The document introduces the Communal Approach to the Agricultural Market (ACMA) program as a mechanism to strengthen the role of local actors, such as economic actors, communal authorities, and socio-professional organizations, in cross-border trade between Benin and Nigeria. The program aims to address the institutional environment affecting cross-border trade through multi-stakeholder consultations and capacity-building initiatives. It facilitates coordination between agricultural actors, provides market knowledge, and improves access to funding. The ACMA program has achieved significant results, including forming Agribusiness Clusters (ABCs) that coordinate the development of competitive agricultural products for the Nigerian market. The program has facilitated business relationships and sales contracts between the ABCs and Nigerian buyers. Additionally, it has supported the construction of commercial infrastructure, such as storage facilities and marketplaces, to enhance the marketing of agricultural products. The program has also contributed to increased agricultural income for producers and processors. The document concludes with lessons learned from the ACMA program, emphasizing the importance of market orientation, value-added actions throughout the agricultural value chain, networking of actors, and credit warrant financing. These insights highlight the potential for improving agricultural trade and economic growth in Benin by addressing the challenges economic actors face in accessing regional markets.
- ItemMarketing Palm Nuts from Benin to Nigeria -Experiences of the Communal Union of Producers of Ifangni And Comfort Vegetable Oil Ltd. In Nigeria(2019-02)The growing demand from the Nigerian agro-processing industry for palm oil presents a significant opportunity for palm oil producers and processors in Benin. This publication explores how members of the Communal Union of Producers (UCP) of Ifangni in Benin have been marketing palm nuts, which are a byproduct of palm oil extraction, to Nigeria. In particular, palm nut kernel has emerged as an alternative marketing opportunity. Comfort Vegetable Oil Ltd., a Nigerian family business specializing in palm nut, palm oil, and soybean oil refinery, has been sourcing raw materials from Benin to meet the needs of numerous vegetable oil refineries in Ogun and Oyo States in Nigeria. While Comfort Vegetable Oil Ltd. operates a processing plant in Ogun State, Nigeria, the current supply constraints have led to the exploration of more direct connections with Beninese producers to reduce production costs and ensure a sustainable source of raw material supply. To address these challenges and facilitate a business relationship, the Ifangni UCP in Benin and Comfort Vegetable Oil Ltd. in Nigeria conducted a pilot experiment on the marketing of palm nut kernel, facilitated by the Communal Approach to the Agricultural Market (ACMA) program. ACMA uses multi-stakeholder consultations within agricultural business clusters (ABCs) to connect producers, processors, traders, and service providers with buyers in Nigeria, fostering a competitive supply of agricultural products. Through negotiations and practical solutions, this experiment aimed to identify marketing constraints and establish a sustainable supply chain for palm nut kernel to meet the demands of Nigerian agro-processors. The study discusses the negotiation process, the challenges posed by fluctuations in the exchange rate of the Nigerian Naira, and the strategies adopted to create a successful business relationship. The findings shed light on the importance of improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Nigerian agro-processing industry and the potential benefits of direct producer-buyer relationships.
- ItemReview of Fertilizer Use by Crop and by Product Tanzania(2018-06)The AfricaFertilizer.org (AFO) has been facilitating exchange of information about soil fertility, fertilizers and good agricultural practices (GAP) in Africa with the support of IFDC, IFA, AFAP, FAO, and the Africa Union Commission and its NEPAD Agency since 2009. The first component of the AFO program aims at improving access and availability of essential fertilizer statistics in Africa on production, trade, consumption, production capacities and fertilizer use per crop, with a special emphasis on real consumption (as opposed to apparent consumption) and fertilizer use by crop data (FUBC). The importance of improving access and availability of essential fertilizer statistics in Tanzanian has driven to the undertaking of the consultancy work that has provided best estimates of current (national) fertilizer consumption and FUBC statistics. The overall objective of the work was to update the 2014 - 2016 Fertilizer consumption statistics and report on National consumption and Fertilizer Use by Crop (FUBC) for Tanzania for the periods 2014/15 to 2016/17. This has been the basis of creating a database on fertilizer use that requires putting together available data and collecting missing data from various sources including literature survey and interviews with relevant stakeholders. The consultant, prior to finalizing this report had an opportunity to collect and share information with Inputs Section and Statistics Section staff of the Ministry of Agriculture (MA) and the Monitoring and Analyzing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) team which was also looking at fertilizer price build up. Furthermore, the consultant visited the Tanzania Fertilizer Company (TFC), the Fertilizer Society of Tanzania - Private Fertilizer Manufacturers, Importers and Exporters), the Tanzania revenue Authority (TRA) and had discussions with the Director of Policy and Planning and the Director of Crop Development. This report provides information on fertilizer data for 2014 – 2016; updates on the agricultural sector; agricultural policies and trade environment; fertilizer trade trends and developments; calculation of fertilizer consumption by crop and type of fertilizer; calculation of Fertilizer Use by Crop (FUBC); reviewed fertilizer recommended application rates; Actual Application Rate (AAR) of fertilizers by farmers; observed gaps during data collection and how to deal with missing data. During the study, the consultant revealed the following: (a) Area under cultivation for all crops was not the same from one year to another (2014 – 2016) as there has been some significant changes leading to different levels of fertilizer demand and use by farmers. (b) Fertilizer demand, availability and utilization in Tanzania is very low when compared to the total demand as recommended by the Department of Research and Development of the Ministry of Agriculture. Fertilizer requirements for 2014 was 3,688,685 Metric Tons, 2015 (4,023,169 Metric Tons) and 2106 (3,688,897 Metric Tons) as compared to the apparent consumption of 301,120 Metric Tons (2014), 249,389 Metric Tons (2015) and 330,880 Metric Tons (2016) respectively for major crops as indicated in Appendix VI. (c) Fertilizer imports reached 417,242 MT (2017) as compared to 371,256 MT (2016) a 12 percent increase. (d) Apparent Consumption of fertilizers has been on increase from 249,389 Metric Tons in 2015 to 349,491 Metric Tons in 2017. This is an increase by 5% from 333,631Metric Tons in 2016. (e) Despite the fact that apparent consumption been on increase, the real consumption of fertilizer by farmers were 288,100 MT (2014), 267,037 MT (2015) and 289,687 MT in 2016. (f) Exported fertilizers have increased by 95% from 44,837MT (2016) to 87,510 MT (2017) 2 | P a g e Otherwise, efforts are required in order to improve agricultural productivity for increased economic growth, reduce rural poverty, improve food security and recognize the crucial role of improved fertilizer use by farmers in additional to other productivity enhancing inputs to meet national targets.
- ItemStructuring of Economic Actors’ Organizations - For a Healthy and Favorable Environment Toward the Appropriate Management of Market Infrastructures(2019-02) IFDCThis publication is the result of the project Communal Approach to the Agricultural Market in Benin (ACMA), financed by the Embassy of the Netherlands and implemented by a consortium of five institutions - International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC - Lead Partner), the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), CARE International, Sahel Capital Partners Advisory Ltd, and Benin Consulting Group International (BeCG). It was developed (from November 2013 to 31 December 2017) in three Nigerian border departments with high agricultural potential - Oueme, Plateau, and Zou through seven value chains (VC) initially: palm oil, maize, gari, chili, and fish, then peanuts and soya. The overall objective of the ACMA program is “the improvement of food security and the increase of agricultural incomes of the direct actors.”