The work of the project to support the development of the cashew sector and agricultural entrepreneurship financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) is now effective. The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAEP) of Benin, Gaston Cossi Dossouhoui, launched the activities on March 19 in Dassa.

Financed at US$18.6 million by the AfDB, the Project to Support the Development of the Cashew Sector and Agricultural Entrepreneurship aims to support the installation of 3,000 hectares of new cashew orchards based on high-performance seedlings, to rehabilitate 10,000 hectares of former plantations through a facilitation and enhancement approach of the National Fund for Agricultural Development of Benin, to produce and use cashew grafted seedlings on 15 hectares of nurseries. It also aims to strengthen and modernize ten existing cashew juice production units and ten existing cashew processing units.
"It is a project that will contribute to improving the performance of the cashew sector to enable it to ensure, in a sustainable way, the food and nutritional security of the population and to contribute to the economic and social development of Benin," said the Minister in charge of Agriculture.
According to the Resident Representative of the African Development Bank in Benin, John Andrianarisata, the launch of the project confirms the institution's commitment to support the efforts of the Beninese authorities in the implementation of the Government's Action Program (PAG 2016-2021)-Agriculture Component, in favour of sustainable and inclusive growth through a structural transformation of the national economy.