Cultivating
Sustainable Futures
News
Technical team of Zimbabwe Farmers Union reinforcing training capacity on Crop Protection and Safe Use of Pesticides
ZFU is the largest farmers’ organization in Zimbabwe in terms of number of members, representing over a million farming households. The technical team of ZFU, including capacity building managers and provincial managers, is following a training series to strengthen their technical and teaching skills to keep their member farmers up to date with the latest knowhow to enhance quality and productivity. This first training handled Crop Protection and Safe Use of Pesticides, which improved their background knowledge about identification of pests and diseases, application of crop protection methods, and how to control the risks introduced by the use of phytosanitary products.
News
Probest scales up its quality management system to meet GLOBALG.A.P. standard
With support from COLEACP as part of its Fit for Market programme, the technical team of Probest followed intensive training on how to scale up their Quality Management System to meet GLOBALG.A.P. requirements for two additional production sites. Probest is a Zimbabwean company specialising in production of fresh snow peas (mange-tout and sugar snaps) as well as fine beans for the export market, and a variety of fresh vegetables for local markets. Congratulations with this successful capacity building!
News
IPM training at Fair Trade Enterprises (Kenya)
Technical staff from FTE Kenya and Kenyan IPM COLEACP expert conducted field visits to avocado orchards in Meru, as part of Integrated Pest Management training delivered through the Fit For Market programme.
News
The key to Kenya’s successful avocado season
The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya (FPEAK) and Fresh Produce Consortium Kenya (FPC Kenya) issued a press statement on the avocado market on 11 November. According to FPEAK and FPC Kenya, up to the end of October 2020 Kenya exported 68,000 tons of avocados, valued at Ksh14 billion (about US$128 million), a record-high for the Kenyan subsector. The Avocado Society of Kenya reports that demand for avocados has risen both locally and internationally, with demand for fruits and fresh vegetables rising during the pandemic, following an initial slight slump in demand due to lockdowns (Fresh Plaza, 9 November).The statement points out that Kenya has huge potential in this value chain, which includes both small-scale and large-scale farmers. Avocado is Kenya’s leading fresh fruit export, accounting for nearly one-fifth of its total horticultural exports. Grown naturally in ideal conditions year-round, right on the equator, Kenyan avocados need little crop protection or large-scale irrigation. Shipping is mainly done via sea freight from Mombasa port to various international markets in the European Union, Russia, the Middle East and the Far East.The main season for Kenya’s avocados is February to October: the Fuerte variety is available from February, and Hass from March. This year’s avocado season closed on 11 November until February 2021.The key to the sector’s success is in use of the latest technologies, availability of technical training, and easier access to markets. Industry associations and other players such as COLEACP have trained and supported producers and exporters on fruit quality management, and requirements for international accreditations on food safety and traceability. Value-added activities are developing in the country, with examples of processing into avocado oil and frozen avocado.FPEAK and FPC Kenya stress the importance of compliance with sustainability requirements, including pesticide use, carbon miles, water-use efficiency, and workers’ rights. These are also topics on which COLEACP is providing capacity building activities for Kenyan producers and exporters under its Fit For Market and NExT Kenya programmes.
News
USTAKO achieves HACCP certificate
Last April, the Unité de Transformation de Fruits et Légumes Tako Sylla (USTAKO), a Malian company exporting dried mangoes, received support from COLEACP’s Fit For Market programme for a review of its food safety management system and capacity building of its technical staff on HACCP principles. This support enabled the company to prepare for the renewal of its HACCP certification, which it obtained in September following the certification audit. Congratulations to USTAKO for obtaining its new certificate.
News
Field activities resume in Côte d'Ivoire
After a period when all COLEACP's activities were organised remotely due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, field activities in Côte d'Ivoire are now resuming.COLEACP is working with a pineapple cooperative towards their compliance with the Fair For Life standard. The COLEACP expert and the company's managers have committed to complying with World Health Organization recommended health and safety measures during their meetings.
News
Memorandum signed with Sankuru province in DRC
COLEACP has signed a Memorandum of Understanding and action plan with the Province of Sankuru in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as part of its Fit For Market Programmes.The aim is to contribute to capacity building of stakeholders in the province’s horticultural sector to improve the quality and quantity of production, and strengthen access to local, regional and international markets.Priority areas of work, defined in phases, are: Identify actors and horticultural activities at the provincial level: improve understanding of the sector’s potential, and identify targets and themes to be addressed Strengthen the capacity of individuals: develop a capacity building programme, with priority given to training structures (universities and technical centres) Promote the origin and access to target markets: make the products produced in the province more widely known and promote them during national, regional and international events. The first phase has already begun. Similar collaborative approaches will be proposed to other provinces in DRC in the coming months.
News
Business management e-coaching for Lucy Agricultural Development
Management staff at Lucy Agricultural Development Plc in Addis Ababa have just received remote training on good business management practices, and coaching on how to monitor and update an existing business plan. The training, given by a COLEACP expert from Kenya, was provided through the EU/AFD-funded Fit For Market programme.
News
Webinar: Linking with Agriculture for a more Sustainable Tourism Sector in Guyana beyond Covid
“Linking With Agriculture for a More Sustainable Tourism Sector in Guyana beyond Covid” | 27 October 2020 - 09:30-11:30hrs (GYT)Join Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Tourism with COLEACP at the Virtual Tourism Forum on the theme: “Linking With Agriculture for a More Sustainable Tourism Sector in Guyana beyond Covid”. This event will discuss how the tourism and agriculture sectors, working together, can create an enabling environment that spurs investment by stakeholders in their bid to create a sustainable agritourism sector.Now available here.
News
FRESH SALONE, RESUMPTION OF EXPORTS TO BRUSSELS
Fresh Salone - a Sierra Leonean fruit and vegetable production and export company, and COLEACP partner - has made its first shipment of habaneros and other ethnic vegetables (African eggplant, okra, leafy vegetables) to Brussels since the new European Directives came into force and flights were resumed post-COVID-19. This success follows several COLEACP Fit For Market programme activities in recent months, including digital training for the private sector on identification and management of false codling moth (FCM) and whitefly; and training and support to the NPPO on the new regulations, FCM identification, inspection and reporting.
News
AGRICADO FARMS WORKING TOWARDS GLOBALG.A.P. COMPLIANCE
As part of its Fit For Market programme, COLEACP supported Agricado Farms to improve their quality management system in order to reach compliance with the GLOBALG.A.P. quality standard. A local expert first assessed the current practices in place, and then provided training to their quality management team. Agricado Farms is on its way to reach compliance with the GLOBALG.A.P. quality standard. Agricado Farms, a new fresh fruits and vegetable company located in Kampala, targets the European and Middle Eastern markets for supplying avocado, macadamia, hot pepper, chillies, eggplants, sweet potato and other fresh fruit and vegetables.
News
Avocado trial opens door for Ethiopian produce exports
European importers have taken delivery of the first trial shipments of Hass avocados from Ethiopia (EUROFRUIT, 26 October). Durabilis, the international impact investment firm behind the venture, described the news as “a game-changing milestone that demonstrates the huge potential for Ethiopian produce”. The fruit was grown in the Koga region, south of Bahir Dar, and shipped via the new Ethiopia-Djibouti-Europe cool logistics corridor, being transported first by train to the Port of Djibouti, then shipped to Italy and transported to the UK by truck. Durabilis works with smallholder growers in conjunction with its local subsidiary, Koga Veg Agricultural Development, a COLEACP partner.