Promotion of Agriculture – ProAgri III

The  program"Promotion of Agriculture - ProAgri", supported through the German cooperation, comprises two modules of technical cooperation and two modules of financial cooperation. In the ProAgri module of technical cooperation, the development of the agricultural sector is promoted through the creation and development of value chains. The value chains chosen for the project are the rice, soy, cashew and shea nut value chains. The objective is: the performance of the selected value chains are improved in a sustainable way. ProAgri specifically aims to provide producers and service providers with the required skills to contribute to the sustainable development of value chains. ProAgri's intervention area covers 16 selected communes in the departments: Atakora, Donga, Borgou and Collines.

Pro Agri's third phase includes three fields of action: 1. Policy and strategic support, 2. Structuring of value chains; and 3. Qualification of service providers and selected sector actors.

Activities under the Project:

1) Upgrade the already available value chain analyses for rice, soya, cashew and shea.

2) Adapt existing qualification concepts to the rice, soy, cashew and shea sectors: develop and disseminate basic learning programs based on the Farmer Business School (FBS) approach, design more specific qualification programs.

3) Adapt qualification materials: develop / update basic qualification approaches, develop specific training materials for the different value chain.

4) Implementation and monitoring of basic qualification measures: Support FBS trainers in the implementation of qualification measures, coordinate the implementation of basic qualifications at target group level, institutionalize the service provision to carry out basic qualifications in a sustainable way.

5) Support the provision of specific services for the value chains: carry out specific value chain qualifications at target group level, qualify service providers for the provision of additional services for the respective value chains, introduce models of contract farming and joint selling, strengthen service delivery through associations, help associations develop business models to provide services to their members.