In its implementation, the BeninCajù project for the integration and acceleration of the cashew sector in Benin, funded by the USDA and executed by TechnoServe Benin and CRS, includes a Fund for Innovation and Enterprise Development (FIDE). This fund is intended to complement ongoing interventions of the BeninCajù project to promote and accelerate innovation and adoption of improved technologies, and to fill short-term gaps in cashew sector investment financing.
 Nassara, a pioneer in Benin in the production, processing and export of organic and fair trade certified cashew nuts, and promoter of a factory processing organic cashew nuts into white almonds, is a beneficiary of the FIDE to secure its supply chain from producer cooperatives.
   As such, several activities are conducted including training organized for the benefit of women and men technicians of the Company.  During the month of November 2020 and for 9 days, they participated in training sessions on five major topics: the basic principles of organic agriculture and the specificities of organic and fair trade certification standards; the deployment of Farmforce software; the gender approach; contractualization, and the organizational dynamics of cooperative societies. Read more here.

Native of the town of Bohicon, 125 km from Cotonou, Melanie, 32 years old, was born into a family of farmers. She studied in primary and secondary schools, then obtained a university degree in Marketing and Commercial Action. Passionate about mathematics and with her scientific baccalaureate, she taught this subject for two years.
" I was doing the shift work and it was very difficult to find hours to teach. I had to deal with several unknowns including the uncertainty of having a contract during the school year, and the lack of income during vacations and vacations." Melanie AKOHA.
Married and mother of 3 children, Melanie lives with her small family in Bohicon. She knew about the BeninCajù,  project in 2015, when one of the Managers informed her that the Fludor processing plant was recruiting. It was the first factory created in the area. Curious and interested, she submitted her application, passed the test and was selected. Today she manages the cutting section of the factory with more than 200 women under her supervision. 
 " As soon as I joined the cashew factory thanks to the project, BeninCajù trained us for two months on the whole cashew transformation process. I have gained a lot of experience since then and I master all the steps, especially in the "shelling" section that I manage. The factory is located not far from my home and the benefits are better than in the vacation. Today, I work in a secure professional environment. I have a regular monthly income and there are periodic increases. This allows me to easily support myself and my family. I am very proud and comforted by my financial freedom. " Melanie AKOHA.... Read more here.

The National Federation of Professional Buyers of Agricultural and Tropical Products (FENAPAT) is an association of Beninese professional buyers of agricultural and tropical products. It is governed by the law of July 1, 1901 relating to contracts of association and the decree n°2001-234 of July 12, 2001 fixing the conditions of existence and the modalities of operation of Associations, Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) and their umbrella organizations.
FENAPAT is the grouping of five (05) Groups of Buyers of Agricultural Products at the regional level called GAPA. Its main objective is "the organization, professionalization and training of its members, the internal mobilization of resources and the negotiation of material and financial means that can allow the implementation of its actions for the development of the cooperation of buyers.
Aware of the economic stakes and the great challenges to be taken up by the Beninese private sector to improve the living conditions of its members, create stable and occasional jobs and contribute to the improvement of the Beninese economy, FENAPAT decided to undertake with the technical support of the BeninCajù project a series of actions to strengthen the capacities of the companies, members of FENAPAT. Among these, the training on the measurement of KOR (Kernel Outcome Results) is listed.
Indeed, in the marketing process of raw cashew nuts, several quality criteria determine the price to be paid by exporters. The main criteria, listed in most of the commercial contracts, are among others: moisture, presence or absence of foreign matter (sand, plants), defectiveness, grading, phytosanitary criteria, homogeneity and consistency of quality.
The KOR is therefore a measure that is taken on raw nuts, at the time of purchase by large buyers and exporters or between buyers and producers. It is a major element in the marketing of cashew nuts. It should be noted that many buyers do not know what KOR is or how to determine it.
In order to fill this gap, a series of free itinerant trainings of three (3) days each was conducted in Allada, Kétou, Parakou, Glazoué and Savalou during the months of November and December 2020 for the benefit of the actors members of FENAPAT divided into several classes of 20 per sessions to respect the barrier gestures of COVID-19. Read more here. 

 Since September 2015, TechnoServe and CRS have joined forces under the banner of  BeninCajù, a project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture USDA to strengthen a sustainable cashew sector in Benin. One of the components of this project is Access to Finance (A2F), which aims to improve access to financial services for several actors in the cashew sector in Benin.  
This is justified because it is no secret that in sub-Saharan Africa, and particularly in Benin, financing is identified as one of the main constraints to the development of agriculture, as well as the secondary and tertiary sectors, of which it is the foundation. In Benin, this financing is essentially provided by decentralized financial systems (DFS) supported by projects/programs that accompany the agricultural sector via financing mobilized outside Benin.
 However, it must be said that cashew financing is faced with several constraints marked by the lack of choice of financial services available to producers, but also the lack of knowledge by the DFS of the potential clientele available in the cashew production zones.
Indeed, multiple experiences carried out in several countries reveal sufficiently that the promotion of cashew nut production financing is ensured only with minimal conditions of success among which, are in good place, the accessibility of all the producers to financial services of proximity, to a varied range of adapted financial services. And to better identify the impact of services related to production financing, it is essential to have geo-referenced data on the coverage of cashew nut production areas by the SFD.
 It is in this perspective that BeninCajù proceeded to the realization of a geographical information system of the SFD and launched a program of professionalization of the SFD in order to facilitate the setting in relation between these and the beneficiaries of the project. This information will help the SFDs to improve their service offer on the one hand, and the cashew producers' knowledge of the availability of financial services on the other.... Read more here

In its strategy of acceleration of the cashew nut sector in Benin, the BeninCajù project, through its component ''Sectoral Policies and Institutional Supports'', ensures among others, the technical assistance to the public institutions and to the actors of the Interprofession of the cashew nut sector, the harmonious institutional development of the sector, the sensitization of the public and private actors, the technical assistance to the whole of the actors in particular to the service providers of the transformation industry. Within this framework and based on the priority that the Government of Benin attaches to the development of the cashew nut sector to make it attractive, generating employment and income, the BeninCajù project initiated, in partnership with APIEX, a study focused on the rules and regulations related to the investment environment, the organization of the various actors in the sector, access to credit and market-oriented policies and programs to support the State's ambition to create a favorable environment for cashew nuts in Benin so as to identify long-term growth opportunities in the context of a rapidly changing global market.
 Indeed, despite all the efforts aimed at increasing the total production of raw cashew nuts from 130,000 to 300,000 tons through 60,000 hectares of new cashew plantations, and the local processing of at least 50% of the national cashew production, several challenges remain to be met to release the full potential of the country in the cashew sector. These include the rules governing the investment-friendly environment. It is in view of this observation that, following the above-mentioned study, the BeninCajù project organized, in partnership with APIEX on December 3, 2020, a workshop to validate the study's findings and conclusions.... Read more here.