Social impact investor and worldwide cooperative Oikocredit has provided a credit line of € 2.7 million to Africa Negoce Industries (ANI), a cashew trading and processing company in Benin.
ANI will use the new credit line provided by Oikocredit for procuring and storing raw cashew nuts and for processing the nuts into white cashew kernels for export. The credit line will also enable ANI to expand its sourcing network among smallholder farmers and to strengthen its relationships with international buyers.
This facility follows a € 2 million loan provided by Oikocredit to ANI in 2021. ANI has been active for nearly 10 years in cashew trading. For the lastfive years, ANI has worked in cashew processing and export to international food markets.
Despite challenges such as those posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, ANI has maintained its position among Benin’s leading cashew traders and processors. ANI works with more than 2500 farmers organised in federations of cooperatives and actively contributes to better livelihoods for these farmers and their households. ANI has supported farmers and their communities with agricultural tools, pesticide protection equipment kits, school kits and the enrolment of farmers into the UTZ certification program. It also supports local employment by offering 50 permanent and 460 seasonal jobs. The majority of its employees are women.
Yves Komaclo, Oikocredit’s Investment Manager for West Africa: ”We are excited to continue our support to Africa Negoce for the 2022 cashew season. Our collaboration is helping sustain a growing market outlet for farmers based in the disadvantaged Central and Northern Benin communities. This new credit line will further strengthen Africa Negoce’s resilience and export capacity. We are delighted to be able to work on improving our social impact among Benin’s cashew producer communities.”