The West Africa Competitive Programme (WACOMP) is a partnership initiative between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the European Union (EU). The Ghana component of the WACOMP is being implemented by the United Nations Industrial Organisation (UNIDO). The overall objective of WACOMP-Ghana is to strengthen the export competitiveness of the Ghanaian economy with a focus on three main value chains – cassava, fruits (mango and pineapple), cosmetics, and personal care products. This will be achieved through enhanced value-added, low carbon, sustainable production and processing, and increased access to regional and international markets.

As part of achieving the objective of the WACOMP, UNIDO has subcontracted CERATH Development Organisation (CDO) to provide a cocktail of technical assistance (TA) to selected mango and pineapple value chain actors. The TA, which spans a period of 12 months (November 2022 – October 2023), will focus on enhancing sustainable and climate-smart production, processing, and increased compliance to international standards. The target beneficiaries will be AGROPAL West Africa Limited (a fruits processing company) and mango and pineapple farmers/cooperatives, aggregators, transporters in selected districts in the Greater Accra, Eastern, and Central regions of Ghana.

Objectives

The goal of the TA will be achieved through 3Cs, in line with the overall objective of the WACOMP. These are:

  • Enhanced competitiveness of the target processing enterprise (AGROPAL), farmer cooperatives, and other value chain actors within the target landscapes.
  • Enhanced compliance capacities of the target processer to institute and adopt quality assurance practices in line with good manufacturing practices.
  • Enhanced connectivity of AGROPAL (and the target farmer cooperatives through AGROPAL) to international markets.