Agri-food chains in Central Africa: key learnings from Bpifrance’s webinar

On Thursday September 14, our Chairman Marc DEBETS took part in a Bpifrance webinar. The topic was “Agri-food Chains Central Africa: agricultural potential and development of resilient agro-industrial value chains”.

After a macroeconomic overview by the Yaoundé Regional Economic Service and a presentation of the zone’s key sectors by Business France Cameroun, a round table discussion was moderated by François Burgaud, Vice-President of ALFA (Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries Africa), with the participation of :

• Michel Djombo, Unicongo’s President & CA Agri’s CEO
• Katia K., Fresh Afrika’s Co-Founder
• Marc Debets, By.O Group & Apexagri’s CEO

Here’s what you need to know!

5 KEYS TO UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESILIENT AGRI-FOOD CHAINS

1. Agriculture plays a predominant role in the sub-region’s economy. Despite the size of the livestock population, livestock production is still underdeveloped, and the agri-food sector remains dependent on external supplies (raw materials, equipment, packaging, etc.).
2. Structuring the industry remains the key challenge: it involves organizing the entire value chain and ensuring effective coordination between its various players (farmers, processors, distributors, transporters… all the way to the consumer!)
3. Financing is essential, to enable governments to structure their agricultural sectors and develop their infrastructures, companies to invest and develop their activities, and small-scale producers to increase their yields, reduce their losses and thus increase their incomes.
4. Public-private partnerships are an effective way of combining the impetus and guidance of public authorities with the technical expertise and financial resources of private players.
5. The political framework must not be neglected, in order to define the standards and framework needed to facilitate investment, develop infrastructures and meet the challenges of food sovereignty for the entire population!

AGRI-FOOD CHAINS CENTRAL AFRICA: IMMENSE DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL

In short, Central Africa is a region with immense potential for agricultural development. However, to succeed in developing truly structuring agricultural projects, the coordination of all players is necessary.

This is precisely what Apexagri is all about. Through our various areas of expertise, we support private investors and public bodies in defining and implementing structuring agricultural projects for the region!

Many thanks to ALFA (Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries Africa) and Business France for organizing this “Agri-food Chains Central Africa” program!