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New NExT Kenya Programme Coordinator
COLEACP is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Chagema Kedera as Programme Coordinator for the new EU-funded NExT Kenya (New Export Trade) programme.Dr Kedera, formerly the founding Managing Director of the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS), currently facilitates the Kenya National Horticultural Task Force.COLEACP has worked with Dr Kedera for many years: in the past he was Regional Coordinator with the EU-funded COLEACP-EDES Food Safety Programme, and more recently he has been a consultant expert working on activities under the Fit For Market SPS programme, focusing on strengthening the SPS systems of the ACP horticultural sector. He also worked with Emerge Centre for Innovations-Africa (ECI-Africa) as a seed expert and served as SPS Advisor for the USAID-funded East Africa Trade and Investment Hub.A Kenyan national, Dr Kedera holds a PhD in plant pathology (minor in plant breeding), and has over three decades of experience in agriculture/trade/policy, especially in national and international standards, covering plant protection, food safety, biotechnology, plant variety protection and seed certification.Dr Kedera will work in close collaboration with the COLEACP team in Brussels and a NExT Kenya programme office in Nairobi.Contact Dr Kedera via chagema.kedera@nextkenya.keMore information on the NExT Kenya programme.
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COLEACP and SPEG: awareness sessions on use of ethephon for pineapples exported to the EU
COLEACP and SPEG (Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana) are collaborating to organise awareness sessions on the appropriate use of ethephon for the export of pineapples to the EU. The first of two sessions took place on the 30th October in Pokrom region, with around 30 producers. Participants included conventional pineapples producers/cooperatives supplying third-party companies exporting to the EU, or exporting themselves to the EU. The session included field and packhouse observation of samples of sprayed fruits reserved from previous exports, along with theoretical information on the EU legislation on the use of ethephon (MRL notifications), crop management practices, and responsible use of plant health products.
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Support to National Plant Protection Organisations
A virtual meeting, facilitated by Mr Babacar Samb, brought together participants from several NPPOs (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Senegal, Togo). The aim was to set up an audit system within the NPPOs. This first meeting made it possible to introduce a guide developed by COLEACP: "Basic elements for implementing an internal audit system” in connection with implementing the systemic approach for the control of fruit flies in the mango export value chain. The NPPOs will then be supported individually and remotely to implement their own internal audit system.
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New: PAFO-COLEACP Innovation Series
PAFO-COLEACP Innovation Series - First online meeting: took place the 19th November 2020. To improve production, processing and trade, it is critical to assess, showcase and upscale existing innovations created or adopted by farmers' organisations and SMEs. This first session of the Innovation Series has presented successful African cooperatives, SMEs and enterprises on value-added and branded products that can increase opportunities in more lucrative markets. They discussed successful chain models and value chains with operators and experts. Speakers: in addition to SMEs and businesses in various value chains, we had experts from research, policy and finance. You can find the video of the session below:
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STDF Cameroon: Support to Penja Pepper GI staff
A mission is under way in Penja to support staff of the Penja Pepper Geographical Indication (GI) to create a database of all the main actors in the pepper production and distribution chain in the five production basins of the GI, as well as a census of these stakeholders in the field. This mission is part of the STDF/PG/593 project, which aims to contribute to improving the sanitary and phytosanitary quality of Penja pepper to facilitate its access to markets, and is carried out in collaboration with the PAMPIG2 project, coordinated by the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and financed by the French Development Agency.
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Madagascar CSR and Sustainable Development Initiatives Event
COLEACP is a partner in Madagascar's 5th Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development Initiatives Fair, from 22-23 October 2020, which will be on the theme "The world after #COVID: Sustainable Madagascar".Co-organised by Ur-CSR and BuyYourWay, under the patronage of the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development and the Groupement des Entreprises de Madagascar, this year the fair will be exclusively #digital. The event is in the French language.For more information on this annual meeting of actors committed and active in addressing environmental and societal issues in Madagascar, visit www.salonrseidd-madagascar.com
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The deadline to receive the applications for this tender is Monday October 12th, 2020.
The deadline to receive the applications for this tender is Monday October 12th, 2020.
News
Covid-19 E-Coaching session for Aspire Co-operative
Horticultural producer Aspire Cooperative in Zimbabwe enjoyed online coaching on implementing Covid-19 mitigation measures. Thanks to the e-coaching sessions, the director reported having a better understanding of how to handle food more safely in the context of Covid-19, leading to structural improvements in the company's food safety management system.
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Call for expression of interest
In the context of the COLEACP/Fit for Market (FFM SPS) : Strengthening sanitary and phytosanitary systems of the ACP horticultural sector, funded by the 11th European Development Fund, COLEACP is launching a new call for tenders concerning the provision of “Support to the COLEACP team for the implementation and monitoring of COLEACP programme activities in Ethiopia” ref. 201169. You will find here all information related to this service procurement notice, including the terms of reference (point 8. Objective, description and resources required). The deadline to receive the applications for this tender is Monday October 12th, 2020.
News
Integrated management for false codling moth control
Virtual training on "Integrated management measures for false codling moth (Thaumatotibia leucotreta) control" is being provided for both private sector (managers of packaging stations/production) and public service (phytosanitary inspectors) through COLEACP's two Fit For Market programmes.30 participants from The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are learning more about the new EU Plant Health Regulation regarding FCM; the use of FCM protocols along the value chain, including data-collection forms; the responsibilities of each player along the value chain towards FCM mitigation; and the phytosanitary treatments for FCM.
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Pest free areas for production and export of curry leaves in Ghana
The Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, in collaboration with COLEACP, organised a workshop in Accra on establishing and maintaining pest free areas for the production and export of curry leaves in Ghana. The workshop brought together officials from the Vegetable Producers and Exporters Association of Ghana (VEPEAG), Ministry of Trade and Industries, Ghana Export Promotion Authority, and the Directorate of Crop Services of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Other stakeholders also participated online via Zoom.Read the full news published by Modern Ghana on their website.
News
Impacts of Covid-19 on horticultural SMEs in Ghana
COLEACP’s surveys in the early months of the pandemic aimed to gather first-hand information on the impact of Covid-19 on operators of horticultural businesses, and assess how support from COLEACP and other partners could best be redirected as a response. These were not intended to be systematic surveys – respondents were self-selecting, and the operators taking part varied greatly in size and operation. But the results provide an illuminating qualitative snapshot of the key impacts of Covid-19 to date, and have been used to inform COLEACP’s and partner organisations’ priorities going forward.Key points: The main impacts have been on customer demand, with reduced supplies from producers, and on logistics, particularly air freight. Turnover has decreased 50% on average for the participating companies. While companies have lost 5 tonnes of product per month on average, the majority have found alternative markets (generally local markets). All respondents are experiencing liquidity problems and are unable to pay overheads or producers. Companies are relatively aware of government aid available to them, although few actually benefit from it at this stage. The survey was open between 3 and 16 August. The 12 companies that responded were COLEACP members and partners, and members of Sea-freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana (SPEG) and other professional organisations. Most of the respondents operate in several value chains simultaneously: mainly pineapple, followed by mango, processed fruit and chillies. Half operate on European markets, 40% on local markets, and one company exports to Morocco. The main sectors affected were pineapples, chillies and sweet potatoes, with 100% of companies active in these sectors reporting an impact. In general, all sectors are affected, including processed products. Domestic as well as international markets have been impacted, with all respondents having some activity on local markets (including with local processing factories). The clearest impact was due to the decrease in airfreight capacity (50% of companies), followed by reduced supply of products from producers (42%). Over 70% of the companies had sold larger quantities on the local market, and 50% were still trying to identify potential new markets. One company has started to process its products, and one company has also started to produce compost with unsold produce. 50% of respondents said they had access to an online platform to sell their products (although not all found this useful). Of the 12 enterprises that completed the survey, 11 mentioned a decrease in turnover, and one enterprise had not yet been able to estimate this impact. 42% of respondents saw turnover reduced by more than half, and one company estimated losses at over 80%. Impact on turnover Eight companies were able to quantify this impact and provided an estimate of their loss over the first half of 2020, which amounts to between €250 and more than €1 million. Compared with forecasts, the impact was mainly felt in terms of ordering from current or potential customers (for more than 60% of respondents). Slightly fewer than half of the companies were not able to meet existing orders; one company saw no impact on orders; and one company saw an increase in orders. In terms of volume sold, the impact is mainly negative. One-third of the companies experienced a decrease in customer order sof 25–50%, and 25% experienced a decrease in volume of 50–75%. One company experienced an increase in orders. Impact on companies’ orders (volume) Eight companies (out of the 10 that were negatively impacted) were able to estimate the average loss per month of volume not sold. This ranged from 5 kg to 36 tonnes of loss in marketed volume per month. The main cashflow challenges faced by companies during the crisis are their difficulties in covering overheads (more than 70% of companies), followed by costs to cover inputs for new plantations (60% of companies) and producer payments (50% of companies). On prices, however, for 50% of companies market prices were similar to the same period in 2019. Prices were higher than 2019 for a quarter of companies, and lower than 2019 for the remaining quarter. 33% of companies were aware of government assistance programmes (assistance with bills for utilities, loan extensions, deferred payment deadline for certain taxes), but only one company reported benefiting from government support. Many horticultural companies employ casual workers on farms and in packhouses – daily wage-earners who are only employed when there is harvesting and packing activity. They are often the weakest in the value chain and the first to feel the impact of economic slowdown. 30% of the companies were unable to hire seasonal workers. However, 30% of respondents hired their seasonal workers as initially planned, and two businesses hired more casual workers than planned. 50% of the companies had kept all their permanent staff, even if they had to take measures such as reduced wages (33% of companies) or had to close their business for a week or more (41%). Eight of the 12 respondents work with small-scale outgrowers. Six of the eight companies saw some impact on their relationships with outgrowers. 25% were unable to guarantee markets for outgrowers’ produce, and 25% could not pay their outgrowers. Seven companies have played a corporate social responsibility role –distributing food and hand sanitisers; awareness-raising on the virus to casual workers, outgrowers or the local community. The vast majority of respondents were applying virus containment measures in their workplaces as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO): hand washing, maintaining social distance, etc. Temperature checking was an additional measure implemented by several companies. Measures have been implemented mostly within plantations/farms (over 90% of the enterprises in packhouses/processing units (60%) and by four out of the eight respondents working with producers. The main difficulty reported was the financial cost of implementing Covid-19 safety measures (41% of companies). Finance is a major bottleneck for many companies’ operations due to increased costs for logistics, safety measures, protective clothing, etc. The majority of companies that responded prioritised financial support, or assistance with access to finance.Other areas of support highlighted included: linking buyers to suppliers; support in accessing markets; information and training (on markets, on Good Agricultural Practices, on Covid-19 related procedures for farming operations); provision of inputs and other materials; support with freight/logistics. Download the complete of survey results on the impact of Covid-19 on horticultural SMEs in Ghana: COVID19 - SURVEY _Ghana - 2020-