Cover_Rebuilding West Africas Food Potential

38 Rebuilding West Africa’s food potential

main bottleneck is quality assurance and control that could be provided by an established leader in milling and

packaging. Market linkages between millers and supermarkets/bakers constitute another important area for

value chain expansion. For cassava-based animal feed outlets, logistical costs for management of huge quan-

tities and competition from other commodity feed sources (maize, mostly) are important factors. While recent

efforts have demonstrated the capacity for boosting cassava yields, the key challenge for the cassava value

chain lies in the simultaneous development of processing and marketing of cassava by-products. A coherent

development strategy is required, given that the majority of producers are small-scale, mostly women, often

with rudimentary techniques and limited access to credit and necessary market information and know-how.^10

5.5 Oilseeeds

The oilseed sector has a lot of potential for growth, owing to the important and fast-growing domestic,

regional and international demand for vegetable oils. The oilseed complex in West Africa is dominated

by palm oil, groundnut and cottonseed. Niche markets include sesame, cashew, coconut and shea. For

palm oil, the regional leaders are Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, which together have the potential

to meet the whole regional demand.

Like all other major commodities in West Africa, the agroprocessing of oilseed products continues to

be limited compared with its potential. The oilseed complex has undergone a major transformation in

West African countries over the past decades, characterized largely by a reversal of trade position from

net oilseed exporters to net importers. Senegal, once a major producer and exporter of groundnut, has

experienced an implosion of the sector and become a net importer of vegetable oils (palm oil, colza,

and soy) far outpacing its dwindling groundnut exports.^11

The palm oil value chain is receiving increased attention both from national governments and investors. The

key issue is how to ensure that palm oil value chain development is built on sound competitive foundations,

as well as being inclusive of small and medium processors and effectively linking agroprocessing with small-

holder producers. This can only be achieved through strong government policies that fully recognize the

central role of the private industry but also build guarantees for smallholder inclusion.^12

For niche oilseed markets, the scope for value addition is very large when comparing the potential with the

current situation. For example, Burkina Faso is the world’s top producer of shea nut, but less than 10 percent

of exports are in the form of shea butter, due to lack of chemical extraction capability for processing, lack of

packaging facilities and lack of organized interprofessions capable of tapping into the lucrative export markets

of North America (World Bank, 2009), where shea butter prices are at least three times as high as in Africa –

or even higher with quality assurance (USAID, 2004).

Finally, vegetable oil trade within the region is huge, tough, informal and not officially recorded, which raises

transaction costs, uncertainty and time, and hence limits exchange compared with its potential. In general,

and despite the strong complementarities in vegetable oil supply and demand among ECOWAS member

states (with the exception of Benin and Senegal), intraregional trade in oilseeds continues to be hampered

by a whole host of constraints, including policy uncertainty – such as when countries impose tariffs on their

neighbours despite the existence of a common external tariff (CET).

(^10) Chapter 16 addresses the particular case of cassava value chain in Cameroon.
(^11) See Chapter 2 for a section on Senegal’s groundnut.
(^12) Chapter 11 addresses this issue in the case of oil palm industry in Ghana.