Oikocredit invests € 1.5 million in Cavica to support smallholder cashew producers

Oikocredit invests € 1.5 million in Cavica to support smallholder cashew producers

27 May 2021

This is the cashew cooperative’s first international loan, which will support the work of 4,900 farmers in the northern rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire

27 May 2021, Amersfoort, the Netherlands– Social impact investor Oikocredit provided a loan of EUR1.5 million to Coopérative avec Conseil d’Administration de Vivriers et de Cajou (Cavica), a leading cashew producer cooperative in Côte d’Ivoire. Cavica works towards alleviating poverty in disadvantaged communities in the northern rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire and supports the development of farmer entrepreneurship.The cashew cooperative has a solid and diversified portfolio of domestic and international clients.

To support Cavica during the cashew season, Oikocredit is providing a credit line for the procurement, transport, storage, and further sale of raw cashew nuts. Oikocredit is Cavica’s first international lender.

Despite the various challenges of Covid-19, Cavica has found safe ways of assisting farmers and delivering quality cashew nuts to local processors and exporters, thereby continuing to support the livelihoods of cashew farmers in northernCôte d'Ivoire.

El Hadj Konate Arouna, Cavica’s Chairman of the Board of Directors said: "After more than seven years of hard work and lack of support from many traditional banking institutions, we finally met Oikocredit in 2020. Oikocredit understood our needs and offered to provide support to Cavica and all its members coming from northern rural areas of Côte d’Ivoire. With this loan, we are able to better position ourselves on the international market. With the increase of working capital we are able to acquire the necessary logistics to achieve our business objectives and support improvements of the standard of living of farmers while achieving a higher social impact in the local communities.”

Yves Komaclo, Oikocredit's Investment Manager for West Africa, stated: "We are excited to become Cavica’s first international lender and to help the cooperative strengthen its relationship with cashew smallholder members and buyers. Our partnership with Cavica –  whose outreach focuses on cashew producers in disadvantaged regions of northern Cote d’Ivoire – will further Oikocredit’s mission to support low-income people and create higher social impact within the communities we serve.”

About Oikocredit

Social impact investor and worldwide cooperative Oikocredit has 45 years of experience funding organisations active in financial inclusion, agriculture and renewable energy.

Oikocredit’s loans, equity investments and capacity building aim to enable people on low incomes in Africa, Asia and Latin America to improve their living standards sustainably.

Oikocredit finances close to 550 partners, with total outstanding capital of € 856.3 million (as at 31 March 2021). For more information see : www.oikocredit.coop.

About Cavica

Created in 2012, Coopérative avec Conseil d’Administration de Vivriers et de Cajou is a cooperative of 6,123 rural cashew producers. It was born out of the desire of cashew producers to join forces with the aim of getting more value of this product to increase their income and improve their socio-economic well-being.

Today, Cavica maintains 51,133 ha of orchards while defending values such as respect for human rights and freedoms, well-being at work, the creation of added value to their labour and the equitable redistribution of the profits generated.

Cavica operates throughout the Centre-North and North area with the firm desire to expand its area of ​​intervention and the diversification of its activities. It has its headquarters located in the Bouaké commune, in the Gbêkê region hosting the largest installed cashew processing capacity to date.

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Note for editors

For more information or to request an interview, please contact Jasmin Panjeta, Communications Business Partner, Oikocredit International, telephone: +31 33 422 4040, email: jpanjeta@oikocredit.org .

 

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