This is the consolidated and final report on activities undertaken under the “Sahelian Onion Productivity and Market Expansion Programme (SOPMEP)” funded by UNDP/AFIM for the period November 01 2012 to October 31, 2013.
In 2012 and 2013, UNDP AFIM planned to provide catalytic funding to selected value chain development initiatives in the agribusiness/ agro-industries sectors in Eastern, Western and Southern Africa. The catalytic funding of AFIM seeks to promote the acceleration of the MDGs by supporting agribusiness value chain projects that generate income, employment and reduce poverty through inclusive economic growth and sectorial development.
ASNAPP, Ghana (Project Promoter) together with its partners TRIAS (Ghana), FEPA-B/CPF of Burkina Faso, NorthFin Foundation (Ghana), Ministry of Agriculture in Ghana, Progressive Onion Traders and Producers Association, Ghana developed a five year program proposing a comprehensive value chain approach to the development of onions in the West Africa sub-region that addresses social inclusiveness and integrates the opportunities of actors within the value chain such as smallholder farmers, agents/dealers, support service providers, development agencies, the private sector and the government. UNDP/AFIM approved one year of SOPMEP to cover Ghana and Burkina Faso as a pilot and to serve as a catalytic support to fuel further development and investment by UNDP country programs, other donors and the private sector. This project is to be extended to other countries (Niger, Mali and Benin) in subsequent phases subject to the availability of additional resources.
Prior to the submission of the proposal, ASNAPP together with TRIAS undertook an Onion Value Chain Study which identified lack of storage and inability to store onion for a long time as a key challenge to onion producers in the Upper East Region, Burkina Faso, Benin and most onion producing areas in Niger.
In relation to the SOPMEP project, ASNAPP/TRIAS were to focus on capacity building, development of suitable financial products and provision of quality level / Postharvest infrastructure for year 1. The table below presents the key activities and expected outputs.