Deutsche Welle, 26 December 2012
Some four
years ago, German importer Biotriopic introduced organic farming to Ivory
Coast. Investment in Africa has not always been easy, but so far it's been a
success story.
There's a
scent of lemon in the cold storage complex outside of the German city of
Duisburg. Boxes and shelves with bananas, mangos, coconuts, lemons, oranges and
pineapples fill the halls from floor to ceiling. At the open gate, a forklift
is piling goods onto a waiting truck.
Biotropic
is one of Germany's largest importers of organic fruits and vegetables. It all
started back in 1997, with organic bananas from the Dominican Republic. Today
it's anything from kiwis, nuts, dates to oranges - shipped from all corners of
the earth.
Pineapples
from Ivory Coast
 |
| It all started with pineapples grown in the Dominican Republic |
Four years
ago, Biotropic began campaigning for organic pineapple to be grown in Ivory
Coast. The German company worked with the local cooperative Ivoire Organics.
"We only had a few earlier attempts in a few other countries such as
Cameron, where it didn't work out," explained Kuemkwong Siemefo, head of
Africa operations at Biotronic.
"Then
we went to Ivory Coast where the infrastructure was excellent. We were lucky
that the farmers we worked with have a long tradition of growing
pineapple," Siemefo added.
Since the
1970s, the West African country has been one of the largest pineapple producers
for the European market. But around the turn of the century, production shrunk
by more than 20 percent. The civil war scared off investors and buyers, and
especially smaller producers had trouble getting their goods onto the
international market. For many farmers, this meant unemployment.
Creating
jobs
Thanks to
the cooperation with Biotropic, plenty of jobs have been created, said Paul
Stephane Goa Pegnene, CEO of Ivoire Organics. "We've recruited people from
the villages for the work. The smaller producers used to not have the resources
to continue growing pineapple. But with the investments of Biotropic, we were
able to support them."
The German
company got help from Sequa, a development cooperation organization in Bonn,
Germany. In 2008 and 2010, Sequa helped with know-how, and above all with
money.
Investments
in Africa bear a high risk, said Siemefo. "Sequa was the right partner to
minimize those risks. Without that financial backing we would not have made
that step," he added.
Goals left to reach
 |
| Organic cocoa production is next on the list of new projects for Biotropic |
Goals left to reach
For Sequa,
it was not just about pineapples, but also about knowledge transfer. A new
institute founded at the Abodo Adjame University was supposed to spread
technical organic farming expertise across the country. But the cooperation
with the university failed for political reasons, said Susanne Sattlegger of
Sequa. Nonetheless, she still concludes, positively, that cooperation with the
local farmers has worked out well.
"The
reason why not all of the development policy goals were archived here, was
because of such extreme factors like environment, climate, and also the
problematic cooperation with the university for political reasons,"
Sattlegger explained.
"But
those are all things that neither we nor Biotropic would have been able to
influence one way or another," she said.
Despite
problems, Biotropic has extended it's investments in Ivory Coast. It started
with 10 employees and an area of just two hectares some four years ago - today
there are around 50 farmers working 70 hectares for Biotropic. An additional 20
small farmers sell their produce to Ivoire Organics.
Biotropic
supplies the cooperative with seeds and machinery, and finances the organic
certification process. Aside from pineapple, the farmers now also grow cashew
nuts, mangos and coconuts for Biotropic. Soon, bananas and cocoa will be added
to this list.
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