Natural Ingredients West-Afrika

Two of the five most promising export sectors for the West African region fall in the category of Natural Ingredients for food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Demand from Europe and the rest of the world is increasing, or with novelty products is expected to increase. Products as dried fruits are becoming more and more popular snacks which fit into the health trend. Moreover West Africa produces a number of natural ingredients which are unique to the region and as such have no competition from other regions and countries. Natural ingredients such as shea, baobab and medicinal herbs are harvested in the wild. They provide a direct income for the rural poor and as such have a strong development opportunity. Moreover greater attention can be paid to sustainable harvesting and the importance of biodiversity. The supply chain for natural ingredients is fragmented due to wild collection and this poses a critical constraint in the value chain. This means that special attention will be paid to this aspect by starting a project aimed at supply chain management through BSOS and Sector Associations. The relevant organisations will be selected once the participants for the ECP have been selected. This ensures that the most relevant ones will be selected and the impact of the programme will be maximised. To assure sustainable development of market intelligence, a small number of BSOS will be supported in the development of market intelligence though a separate project. This project will also start one year later, for the same reasons specified above. The third and final project will target the company internal constraints. This will be an ECP with a regional focus, as there are too many different products with export potential to give the project a country and/or product focus.