E-ATP and Regional Poultry Association Forge Stronger Relationship

A  productive partnership has been established between the West African regional poultry organization, UOFA (Union of organizations de la filière avicole), and the USAID Expanded Agribusiness & Trade Promotion project.

Following an extensive and collaborative effort by USAID E-ATP staff and UOFA leadership, all the project’s 2011 poultry value chain activities were integrated into UOFA’s own work plan at an April 22-24 meeting in Accra, Ghana.  The two-day workshop was attended by some 30 poultry industry professionals, with representation from national  poultry associations in Togo, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso and Ghana.
The goal of UOFA is to promote the poultry value chain within the West African Economic and Monetary Union (French acronym UEMOA) and to strengthen the modern poultry sub-sector so that it contributes to regional economic growth, food security, and improving people’s lives.

USAID E-ATP poultry value chain activities are aimed at reducing physical and policy barriers to free agricultural trade within the region; establishing synergy between agricultural producers, input suppliers, processors and distributors; advocating on behalf of the regional private sector and non-governmental actors for the promotion of regional agricultural trade; improving regional market information systems; and reinforcing the capacity to prevent outbreaks and transmission of Avian Influenza.

UOFA vice president Jean Baptiste Satchivi, who is president of the aviculture professional organization in Benin, noted that validation of UOFA’s work plan in concert with USAID E-ATP’s activities, UOFA’s own institutional capacity building plan, and a plan for market information systems was difficult to achieve, but – they did it.
 
“Our main problem is training our members to work together,” he said. “This is an organization made up of eight national organizations and we have to learn how to work together.  And there are many challenges in conducting unhindered trade among eight countries. 

“For example,  we’re embarking on a project along two trade corridors, one carrying day-old-chicks from Ghana to Benin.  Similarly,  from Senegal to Burkina, you have to pass through Mali. Along the way, you’re stopped by the police; if not them, it’s the sanitary officers, or customs, and when the product you’re transporting is very specialized, fragile and has a limited lifespan, in order to facilitate trade, we have to bring everyone together.  You have to work together to produce quality.”