This operation of distribution of grafted plants is intended for all producers who have projects for the extension, creation and rehabilitation of cashew orchards. The objective is to provide traced grafted plants to all producers in the different regions of intervention of the PRO-Cashew project. Through this act, the actors of the project want to show their commitment to work in a dynamic of development of the cashew value chain, with an orientation on the increase of the productivity of the orchards; but also the revitalization of the marketing of cashew nuts. The President of the Burkina Cashew Interprofessional Committee (CIAB), Ibrahim Sanfo Olivier Kabré is the program director for the USDA West Africa PRO-Cashew project. He recalled that the project is implemented in several countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria. It is thus financed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). According to him, the delivery of these 40,000 grafted plants will allow the creation of 400 hectares of new orchards. “The demand for cashew nuts is quite high globally and it keeps growing. The forecast for the next ten years is that supply will not be able to meet demand. By using improved seedlings that are disease resistant, which have been bred in such a way that they can boost production, growers can achieve up to one or one and a half tonnes per hectare per year,†Olivier Kabré, program director of the USDA West Africa PRO-Cashew project Started in Burkina Faso in 2021, the project has already achieved results including the training of 5,900 cashew producers on good agricultural practices for creation, maintenance, harvesting, post-harvest and determining the quality of nuts. raw cashew; the provision of cashew producer cooperatives with small equipment and the financing of eleven grant projects amounting to more than 450 million FCFA. To ensure the application of good agricultural practices in the creation of new orchards, PRO-Cashew has strengthened the capacities of 3,500 producers in the four cashew production regions. This handing over of grafted plants to cashew producers is also in line with the development missions of the cashew sector of the Burkinabè Cashew Council (CBA). This, in order to considerably increase the national production of cashew nuts with a yield higher than the current average yield which is less than 500 kg per hectare. According to the Director General of the Burkinabè Cashew Council, Joseph Zerbo, this act marks a new dynamic of inclusive and sustainable development of the cashew sector. The Director General of the Burkinabè Cashew Council, Joseph Zerbo These 40,000 grafted plants will thus allow the development of the value chain of the sector, with a particular orientation on the improvement of productivity and the extension of orchards in Burkina Faso. Indeed, the cashew sector is facing difficulties related to the harmful effects of climate change, by the aging of cashew trees, but also by the low quality of the plant material available and whose traceability remains to be proven. It is to reverse this trend and in a dynamic of increasing the production of cashew nuts that the PRO-Cashew project, in collaboration with the CBA, has planned the production and distribution of 40,000 grafted plants for the benefit of producers. of cashew. According to Joseph Zerbo, Managing Director of CBA, this operation is also in line with the guidelines of the national strategy for the development of the cashew sector, the objective of which is to make the cashew sector a better organized, more efficient sector. Anything that will contribute to increasing the income of its actors, to job creation and to the economic growth of Burkina Faso. "Achieving this objective necessarily involves the creation of new orchards and the rehabilitation of old orchards while improving yields", The family photo at the end of the ceremony of handing over plants to producers He also reassured that the CBA, in collaboration with the PRO-Cashew project, will make every effort to support the beneficiaries of these grafted plants in monitoring-support advice to have a 100% success rate in planting these plants. grafted. He also indicated that the operation will continue until 2024, in order to be able to meet all the needs of producers for grafted cashew trees. "We encourage producers to follow the right technical itineraries to make these grafted plants prosper, in order to be able to achieve the expected objectives in terms of production", wished Joseph Zerbo. The president of the Interprofessional Cashew Committee of Burkina (CIAB), Ibrahim Sanfo, greeted the donors, on behalf of the cashew producers. “We are the direct players in the cashew sector and the development of this sector is our responsibility. So any action taken by a partner that will allow the sector to develop is an action that we welcome at its true value,†he said.