Potato Entrepreneurship Project

Country: Guinea
Project details
Services:
Access to finance
Capacity building
Enterprise development
Value chain development
Crops:
Roots and tubers
Households reached:
4259

Potato Entrepreneurship Project (PEP), 2020 - 2023

Donor:

Belgian Cooperation / ENABEL

Goal 

The project’s goal is to support entrepreneurship and improve the performance of stakeholders in the potato value chain of the Mamou region of the Republic of Guinea.

What we do

Local potato production in West Africa is at a relatively low level which mainly meets local demand. Guinea has a comparative advantage in the sub-region: a large area of arable land in the Fouta Djallon has favorable climatic conditions for the production of Irish potatoes. However, the potato value chain is not well structured and stakeholders are lacking professionalism. EUCORD will take action to:

  1. Support the development of a framework for planning priority concerted actions
  2. Build technical and entrepreneurial capacities of all value chain actors
  3. Facilitate business relations between value chain actors
  4. Support the implementation of value chain concerted actions

The beneficiaries of the project will be mainly potato producers and their representative groups, as well as agro-entrepreneurs related to the provision of inputs, processing units or marketing activities.

Accomplishments

  • 300 producers benefited from capacity building on entrepreneurship and business development
  • 91 entrepreneurs benefited from support in their search for financing, including 47 women. Among them, 36 including 22 women, obtained funding for power tillers and irrigation equipment
  • 94 model producers trained (83% men and 17% women) to lead demonstrations and disseminate good practices to other farmers
  • 4,259 producers (56% men and 44% women) trained on improved agricultural practices on 784 hectares, including increasing soil fertility, use of improved seeds, animal traction and improved tillage, etc.
  • 80% potato producers supported on good agricultural practices increased their yields from 18 tons/ha to 26 tons/ha average
  • Two seed entrepreneurs produced 50 tons of quality potato seed while 18 model farmers emerged as seed producers