FINANCING THE CASHEW NUT INDUSTRY IN BENIN: BENINCAJU PROJECT INITIATES THE SFD GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

 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