Market access and food security
In the context of COVID-19 disruptions, COLEACP aims to provide ACP producers/exporters and their professional organisations with continually updated information on developments in logistics and national, regional, international and European fruit and vegetable markets; and to facilitate the marketing of ACP fruit and vegetable production at local, regional and international levels. Activities include:
- Logistics:
- permanent relations with transport companies
- a weekly report on the availability of air, sea and road freight
- a search for collective solutions to ensure the maintenance of trade corridors for food products in ACP countries and between the ACP and main markets, including the EU.
- Trade and market access
- identification and validation of existing market places (national and regional) for promotion to producers to facilitate the sale of their fruit and vegetables
- mapping of the main local buyers of horticultural products (including processing plants)
- a simple online interface allowing producers to inform on the availability of horticultural products for sale and to promote this offer to marketplaces and local buyers
- identification and promotion of simple and affordable solutions for processing fresh fruit and vegetables in order to avoid losses due to lack of freight and customers.
The new web interface is now in testing, in close collaboration with horticultural professional associations in seven pilot countries: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal. Local COLEACP experts are developing lists of buyers at national level, online and offline (including markets, supermarkets, catering chains, wholesalers etc.).