- 09/09/2025
- Posted by: Sandra Borma
- Category: News
In April 2025, COLEAD secured new funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) to provide long-term support to the horticultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa. This three-year project builds on the Fit for Market programmes and broadly aims to reduce poverty and improve food and nutrition security.
The objective is to support agripreneurs in implementing sustainable practices.
The initiative targets smallholders, farmers’ groups and SMEs, aiming to maintain and strengthen their access to national, regional and international horticultural markets. The focus is on developing skills, adopting sustainable practices, and creating new business opportunities.
Three areas of intervention are planned
- Capacity building of horticultural operators: co-construction of development projects with beneficiaries, delivered through training, coaching, technical assistance and updated resources (SPS standards, environmental and social criteria, etc.).
- Support for professional organisations: providing tailored assistance to strengthen their role as technical and strategic intermediaries and improve their ability to adapt services to market changes.
- Public–private dialogue and access to the European market: participatory identification of export obstacles, complemented by market intelligence activities in collaboration with the relevant authorities and private sector organisations.
The first actions have been launched.
The target countries have been defined as: Senegal, Guinea, Togo, Benin, Malawi, Tanzania and Madagascar. This selection was made based on criteria including requests received under FFM+. A call for expressions of interest has been launched and disseminated to eligible organisations to identify their priority needs around four pillars: SPS, environment, social and governance. The requests received will be analysed and action plans will be co-developed with stakeholders in Q3 2025.
This activity is supported by the Trade Capacity Building Program (TCBP), implemented by COLEAD, with financial support from the French Republic through the French Development Agency (AFD). This communication has been produced with the financial support of AFD. Its content is the sole responsibility of COLEAD and can in no way be taken to reflect the position of AFD.
