Nigerian Breweries Signs Cassava Partnership Agreement

20 June 2014 - Nigerian Breweries, a subsidiary of Heineken, has announced that it has jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Psaltry International Company Ltd (Psaltry), a Nigerian cassava processing company to develop a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) that will establish and improve agribusiness for smallholder farmers in Nigeria.

The PPP forms part of the 2SCALE programme, a Dutch funded initiative aimed at improving rural livelihoods and food security in Africa. The partnership will be implemented over the next three years by a consortium of IFDC, ICRA and BoPInc (2SCALE) and will strengthen the participation of smallholder farmers in the local economy.

HE Minister Lilianne Ploumen, Netherlands Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation attended the signing of the MoU in Nigera, as part of her trade mission with leading Dutch businesses. Commenting on the signing of the agreement, Minister Ploumen, said: "Heineken's decision to take part in a programme like 2SCALE proves there are real opportunities in Africa for the Dutch private sector. I hope more companies will follow their example."

Under the terms of the MoU, the partners will work together to support small-scale farmers in the production of more and better cassava through technical assistance, training and easier access to finance.

The PPP will enable more smallholder farmers to participate in the market for processed cassava products and will allow, Nigerian Breweries to increase the amount of locally grown cassava products used in their local beers.

The PPP also supports Heineken's commitment to deliver 60% of its African raw materials requirements via local sourcing by 2020. As a large buyer of crops and a manufacturer and brewer in Africa Heineken has a positive economic impact on local communities, and plays an important role in the economic empowerment of hundreds of thousands of farmers, their families and their communities.

Nico Vervelde, Managing Director of Nigerian Breweries: "Nigerian Breweries' ambition is to support local economic development and promote inclusive growth by sourcing agricultural raw materials, like cassava, locally from entrepreneurial local SME's. Through our partnership with Psaltry, we are taking a big step towards further realising this ambition."

Niek van Dijk, business developer in 2SCALE said about 2SCALE's participation in the PPP: "The programme is about entrepreneurship. We see small-scale farmers as potential entrepreneurs that can add value to both local markets as well as Dutch companies. It is not philanthropy for companies to do business with small-scale farmers, it's an opportunity to grow for all parties and we are very pleased that Nigerian Breweries is supporting this initiative".

2SCALE is a Public-Private Partnership funded by the Dutch Government, designed to spur inclusive agribusiness development in West and East Africa. The goal of 2SCALE is to improve rural livelihoods and food security in 9 countries in sub-Saharan Africa through the development of competitive agro-food industries.

The 2SCALE project is the largest agribusiness incubator in Africa, working with farmers and small-scale entrepreneurs in 9 countries. 2SCALE builds networks that connect farmers, buyers and intermediaries, enabling them to create and grow new businesses. 2SCALE also enables private firms to find business opportunities for sourcing products from, or selling agro-inputs to, smallholder farmers in Africa.