FROM INFORMAL TO FORMAL, THE FEDERATION OF CASHEW NUT GROWERS AND PRODUCERS AT THE HEART OF CHANGE

Amadou Cissé, president of the federation of cashew nut growers and producers in the regions of Fatick and Kaolack, and also president of the union of agricultural cooperatives of Sine Saloum.

Our collaboration with Shelter For Life has been a boon to the re-launch of our business.

Since 2018, we were in talks with Shelter for life to work with them. This finally happened in 2020 and it was only in 2021, we were able to do the first operation.

Even if we were not yet a formal cooperative, we were still doing capacity building to find solutions on how to improve profitability but also on good practices to adopt.

Amadou Lamine Cissé added that the collaboration with Shelter for life has been nothing but happiness because they have acquired experience, a better organization and better living conditions

« The LIFFT Cashew project funded by USDA and implemented by Shelter for Life International supports Senegal, The Gambia and Guinea Bissau (SeGaBi) in the integral development of the cashew value chain. The organization of cooperatives and their transformation is an important axis to ensure the sustainability of the activities promoted by the LIFFT Cashew project. »

Thanks to this collaboration with Shelter for life, we were able to get funds from the banks and became a cooperative. We sold our products, paid back the bank in full and even obtained profits that we did not expect, thanks to Shelter for life, which we cannot thank enough for its support, which has been a success.