Message-ID: <199703100729.QAA23154@inetnif.niftyserve.or.jp> Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 16:24:00 +0900 From: FORWARDED <mailto:QWA01214@NIFTYSERVE.OR.JP> Subject: IPS: AFRICA-ECONOMY: Small-Scale Pr To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 10:38:47 -0800 (PST) From: Babatunde Harrison <mailto:baba@igc.apc.org> Errors-To: mailto:owner-nigeria-watch@igc.org/* Written 3:13 PM Mar 7, 1997 by newsdesk in igc:africa.news */ /* ---------- "IPS: AFRICA-ECONOMY: Small-Scale Pr" ---------- */ Copyright 1997 InterPress Service, all rights reserved. Worldwide distribution via the APC networks.
*** 04-Mar-97 ***
Title: AFRICA-ECONOMY: Small-Scale Producers Have Many Rivers to Cross
By Nana Rosine Ngangoue
BRAZZAVILLE, Mar 4 (IPS) - When a group of women from Burkina Faso Women exposed their farm products at a fair in Congo they discovered that there were markets they could tap, but only if they overcame at least two drawbacks.
One had to do with the scale of their production. The other related to packaging. Both are hurdles that inhibit the growth of Sub-Saharan Africa's small producers, including women, who also find it hard to obtain financing.
The Burkinabe group, Association Pag La Hiri, exposed products such as dried onions, soap from karite butter (made from the nut of a palm), biscuits made from fruits and cubes of Soumbala, a local condiment, at the Feb. 26-Mar.1 Panafrican Fair of the Farm and Rural World (SPAMAR) here.
Everything Pag La Hiri manufactures is made from crops grown by the association's 11,000-odd members, 90 percent of them women, according to Monique Kabore, president of the association.
She said the fair gave Pag La Hiri, whose name means 'The Woman is the Home' in the Moore language widely spoken in Burkina Faso, a chance to meet many prospective clients.
''People contacted us asking us to send them our products,'' said Kabore, whose association has members in all of Burkina Faso's 12 regions. ''There were so many requests that we can't satisfy them all.''
''First of all, we don't produce in large quantities because, while we have suitable equipment for processing our products, the equipment is still manual,'' explained Kabore, ''Moreover, we have difficulties with packaging our products. We don't have enough jars and bottles because there is no glassworks back home. We even import wrapping paper.''
The fair enabled Pag la Hiri to find a solution to that problem. ''We are going to follow up contacts with exhibitors from other countries that produce packaging material,'' said Kabore.
Her group proposes to use a compensation system, deducting the cost of the imported packaging material from the selling price when exporting their products to the suppliers.
Overcoming another difficulty faced by small producers in many African countries was one of the main concerns of Aline Piriwa, an exhibitor from the Central African Republic.
''Most banks don't want to lend to lend small entrepreneurs because, as far as they are concerned, most of us do not have collateral,'' she explained. ''We also don't want to depend forever on foreign donors. That's why we are fighting to make sure we are able to finance ourselves.''
''That is also why I like the idea of sub-regional economic integration -- encouraging trade between countries,'' added Piriwa. ''Look, I was swamped by orders for coffee from other African countries. So there is a market, one which is close by and profitable because you spend less exporting to the continent than when you send goods to Europe, for example.''
Some African countries have done more than others to fund women in business. Burkina Faso is one example that is often cited, while Congo is another. One exhibitor who requested anonymity said she appreciated initiatives such as the Women's Savings and Credit Fund in Congo which mobilises financing for income-generating activities by women.
''If African countries could all have such financial instruments, women entrepreneurs could really take off,'' she said.
SPAMAR was organised by 'Creations africaines' (CREAFRIC - African Creations), a Paris-based non-governmental organisation whose objective is to promote African know-how. However, of the 14 countries expected at the fair, only eight turned up -- Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, South Africa, Togo, Zaire and host nation Congo.
''The fair was aimed at encouraging inter-African trade, promoting appropriate agricultural technology and private investment, and organising contacts between economic operators and financial decision-makers,'' said CREAFRIC President Solange Boudzoumou.
Not all the exhibitors were satisfied. Some, like Congolese market gardener Marie Zahou, had had different expectations. ''This fair did not allow us to sell our vegetables,'' she said. ''They told us that we should only exhibit them but, as you know, vegetables wither.''
''We did not make any contacts that would allow us to trade with countries that do not have vegetables,'' added Zahou, who is a member of the Talangai Market Gardening Centre here.'' We really did not benefit from this exhibition.''
Participants from Zaire had other complaints. ''The organisers refused to look after us,'' charged a member of the Association of Muslim Women in Zaire, who refused to give her name. ''From the inception they did not explain properly the arrangements made for us. We were forced to stay in a mosque.''
While admitting that there were hitches, Boudzomou said she felt the bulk of the fair's aims had been met. ''We have to admit that we had a lot of difficulties with preparations because it's not easy to mobilise rural people,'' she said. ''But we are proud that this fair permitted many interchanges. Each country tried to take up the opportunity to trade in something.''
SPAMAR also proposed the creation of a national quality day and an African quality day, both aimed at encouraging improvements in Africa's products.
The date of the African day is to be set in collaboration with mayor's offices and ministries responsible for agriculture, trade and artisanry of each country. (END/IPS/NRN/KB/97)
Origin: Harare/AFRICA-ECONOMY/ ----
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