NEPC – GIZ /MOVE collaborate to promote productivity in the cashew and rice value chains
The Nigerian export Promotion Council (NEPC) in collaboration with GIZ MOVE held a one day programme on “Intervention in Cashew and Rice value chains on the 2nd of Nov 2023.
This is coming after NEPC signed a memorandum of understanding with GIZ in August 2023 under the Market Oriented Value Chains for jobs and Growth in the ECOWAS Region tagged – GIZ MOVE.
The Executive Director/CEO NEPC Mrs. Nonye Ayeni represented by Mr Lawal Shehu Dalhat, the Director Policy and Strategy department delivered the keynote address. She emphasized that the collaboration is geared towards engaging critical stakeholders in the Cashew and Rice value chain. She further stated that the NEPC/GIZ programme presents a veritable platform to ensure that the output from farm gate to aggregation, processing to certification and from packing to export is in line with best practices.
finally, the ED/CEO stated that the Council is committed to the project and will ensure a successful delivery of the remaining components of the MOU.
The GIZ MOVE Country Coordinator, Mr. Narcisse Kindohounde during his welcome address, stated that the collaboration is yielding the kind of positive outcomes envisaged, which are aimed at promoting productivity among actors in the cashew and rice sectors. He added that “the Women in Rice Platform is aimed at increasing women’s access to relevant rice related information on technology, innovations, and markets which can boost their productivity and competiveness in both national and regional markets”.
He commended NEPC for the steps taken to coordinate a joint fair for rice and cashew actors in the value chains and their support on advisory on packaging and marketing of the value added products.
In continuation of the programme, Mrs Maimuna El – Labib Lawal , Head of Component scaling , gender and rice sector- GIZ MOVE, presented a paper on the women in rice platform stating that the GIZ MOVE actors in the cashew and rice value chain stand to gain amongst other things:
- Capacity building to strengthen agriprenurial skills
- Opportunities to participation in leadership, mentoring/coaching sessions
- Increased access to rice related information, networks, series and market at national and regional levels through the women in Rice social media platforms
- Opportunities for participation in trade fairs/exhibitions, events, seminars, alumni network etc.
She also disclosed that the GIZ/MOVE programme uses a marker that ensures equal sharing mechanisms for intervention through a system of Reach, Benefit, Empower and Transform.
Some salient points were raised during the panel session; Mr Paul Ajayi one of the panellist and an in house packaging expert pointed out that poor packaging poses a major problem which requires more capacity building of the business owners to enable them compete on a global scale. Adding to this point, the Deputy Director, Product Development department, Mr. Macpherson Fred-Ileogben said that the council has assisted with several certification programmes through packaging and labelling capacity programme and the establishment of DEW while paying attention to competitiveness in the global market.
