SARA, Fruit Attraction, ANUGA 2023: Facilitating access to regional and international markets

Facilitating access to markets for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the agri-food sector in low- and middle-income countries is at the heart of COLEAD’s mission: to “implement all actions to increase the contribution of agricultural sectors, and horticultural sectors in particular, to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals”.

To this end, COLEAD supports the beneficiary partners of its programmes to (i) comply with public and private regulatory requirements for market access; and (ii) access more market information and business opportunities.

Members of the COLEAD team regularly take part in specialised trade fairs, which – despite the importance of distance trade – remain key crossroads for national and international trade, particularly for the fruit and vegetable sector. The aim of participating in this type of trade show is threefold: (i) to meet exporting producers, exhibitors or visitors from dozens of countries to inform them of one or more programmes or to take stock of current development projects; (ii) to meet importing buyers to facilitate contacts and understand the latest market developments and requirements, as well as the competitive positioning of certain origins; and (iii) to take part in conferences and workshops to gather quantitative and qualitative information to feed into COLEAD’s training and business development materials and tools.

In October 2023, COLEAD participated in three trade fairs via the FFM+ programme: Fruit Attraction in Madrid (3–5 October), SARA in Abidjan (2–6 October) and ANUGA in Berlin (7–11 October). These events illustrate the different markets covered by COLEAD, namely the European fresh fruit and vegetable market, the regional agricultural and food market in sub-Saharan Africa and the international fresh and processed food market. Alongside these on-site meetings, COLEAD – also via the FFM+ programme – is helping African, Caribbean and Pacific MSMEs to promote their products on digital platforms such as tridge.com.

This activity is supported by the Fit For Market Plus (FFM+) programme, implemented by COLEAD within the Framework of Development Cooperation between the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the European Union.

This publication receives financial support from the European Union and the OACPS. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of COLEAD and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the OACPS.