Quality & FRUILEMA - Mali

Through this project, Fruilema, a Malian fruit and vegetable export concern, is seeking to acquire the tools and resources needed to meet the stringent requirements (Eurepgap certification) for exporting Malian farm products to international markets. More specifically, the project involves setting up an information and communication system to identify producers, to geographically determin farm plots, and to introduce products quantity and quality for purposes of analysis, understanding and decision-making support. The gathered information is accessible via a web-enabled platform and can be updated via Internet and mobile phone. The available information can be disseminated to various stakeholders such as producers, trackers, collectors, importers.

Exporters must face many requirements and constraints if they wish to enter the European market. They need to have exact knowledge about the quantity and quality of farm products, places and periods of production. Meanwhile, international consumers want to be able to trace the products.  For importers, it is important to be able to assess the quality and reliability of their exporting counterparts. For producers, it is important to know the exact surface of their production areas and the requirements of the market. Actually, the idea of a web-enabled platform is to provide information to all parties involved in the mango value chain.

Read more about IICD's Mali Country Programme.

The project was officially launched in January 2007  (see http://www.iicd.org/articles/QualityFruilemaproject/). The platform was developed during 2007-2008 -- this involved identifying all processes in the production and "conditioning" of mango products", software development as well as capacity building of the five involved exporting organisations. The platform developed by the Senegalese partner MANOBI was officially presented in February 2008. The five organisations involved started to fill in the database. This process is currently ongoing. Meanwhile, MANOBI and the partners used the platform in order to convince importers in Europe to work with them. As a result, they contracted two importers for the mango season 2008.  Unfortunately, due to credit difficulties, the exporters were not able to comply with the quality demands of their European counterparts this time. Beyond improving the exporting capacity, efforts should be made to speed up data entry in the database. For this purpose, the extension of the project focuses on capacity building with PDAs, which should make it easier for the exporters and producers to directly send the data from the fields.

The overall objective is to acquire tools and resources that will enable Fruilema to satisfy the requirements of EurepGap (a private sector body that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products around the globe) and export Malian farm products to the highly desirable markets of Europe.

Specific objectives are:

• To possess reliable data
• To increase output and productivity
• To enable packaging centres to operate all year round by having a sufficient variety of products
• To comply with the requirements of external markets
• To introduce new farming techniques
• To reassure consumers through product traceability
• To create a Mali label in order to gain market share
• To increase the operational effectiveness and professionalism of Fruilema and its members

The target groups are producers, exporters (who are Fruilema members) and fruit and vegetable importers, as well as research partners and the government departments concerned (agriculture, trade).  

The project should contribute to poverty reduction, build producers’ capacity and increase the incomes of both exporters and producers. Indirectly, it should also help to disseminate production techniques and slow down the migration of young people in the off-season.

Read more about IICD's approach towards Livelihoods.

• Improving an exporting chain is a very complex process. Only developing a web-enabled database with all necessary information does not guarantee a successful chain. Other factors such as access to credit, physical infrastructure, skilled labour, marketing are equally important. On the other hand, we have seen that the existence of the platform strongly strengthened the credibility of the exporting partners and even led to concrete exporting contracts.
• The data entry process is long and cumbersome and the partners sometimes prioritize less other work areas. The link between the use of the platform and direct economic benefits should be emphasised over and over again. It is recommended to give access to the database to as many people as possible, although this conflicts with confidentiality issues.
• Working with the exporters only does not guarantee improvements at the level of producers. It is important to involve the producers as much as possible in project implementation, awareness raising and capacity building.
• Due to the complexity of the process, it is important to coach/guide the partners closely during implementation. The required capacities include technical expertise (how to translate existing procedures and processes in an information system), competencies in chain development (actors, procedures, market demands, laws/regulations  etc.) and ICT capacity development (how to train who and when)
•  In the extension phase, more attention should be paid to direct empowerment of the producers, by helping them to determine the exact geographical coordinates of their farm plots and to reduce their expenditures on pesticides and fertilizers. Moreover, awareness raising should help the producers to better establish their position vis-à-vis their buyers.

Fruilema (short for ' fruits du Mali' or ' fruits of Mali' is a Malian fruit and vegetable export concern trying to reach the European market.