Younouss Mbau MANSALY, president of the BALUH-NA cooperative
“Acting to serve the BALUH-NA cooperative.” This is the motto of our cooperative.
On the eve of the cashew marketing campaign, the producers of Francounda and the surrounding area came to meet the Baluh-Na cooperative president to inform him that they wanted the cooperative to help them find a partner who would come and buy their raw cashew nut production at a correct price.
Producers in Francounda no longer accept bags of rice, let alone financing from middlemen. Instead, they have signed win-win contracts directly with the exporters. Now they live off their cashew production. For example, in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, thanks to support from the LIFFT CASHEW project, they were able to sell 1,734 tons directly to local exporters.
In addition, thanks to the LIFFT project and SFL, they have a commercial partner named COPEOL with whom we signed a special contract for the cultivation of organic peanuts. This has enabled the cooperative to also receive two tricycles worth 3 million CFA francs and two threshing machines worth 4 million CFA francs. Through this cooperative members produced and sold 98,975 metric organic peanuts.
For this marketing campaign of cashew 2022 the cooperative was able to collect and sell 5051 tons
As a reminder, the cooperative had a commercial objective of 2500 tons of cashew nuts for this campaign, an objective reached at 200 percent.
Thanks to the support of SFL, the BALUH-NA cooperative has obtained several partners with whom it has signed group sales contracts at the cooperative level. Thanks to SFL support the cooperative has more purchasing power and group sales are conducted to get the better prices for cooperative members.
“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 a vital pillar to ensure the sustainability of the activities promoted by the LIFFT Cashew project.