MOU Executed with Co-Investment Fund, Holding Equatorial Guinea 2020, for Sustainable Agriculture
Malabo, 01 May 2018 - Gnima Group, KDHI (USA), and Choco-Revo (Japan) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Holding Equatorial Guinea 2020 (H2020) to revive Equatorial Guinea’s cocoa sector and to enhance the livelihood of smallholder farmers.
The signing took place at H2020’s headquarters in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea between 1) Mrs. Patricia Mbasogo Lima (Deputy General Manager, H2020), 2) Mr. Armstrong Coulibaly (Director, Gnima Group), 3) Mr. Kavaneet Dhami (Founder, KDHI), and 4) Ms. Tomoko Hoshino (Founder, Choco-Revo).
Equatorial Guinea is home to some of the world's most exotic cocoa that used to have an abnormally high yield at 2.96 Tonnes per hectare in 1968 (global average = 0.6MT/ha) and produced roughly 38,000 Tonnes that same year. The country also introduced cocoa to Ghana, which today is the 2nd largest producer in the world. Due to the oil boom and decreased labor focusing on the Agriculture sectors, Equatorial Guinea's cocoa production has fallen to an alarming ~500MT at an average yield of 0.5MT/ha. Project AgriPro is expected to boost production to over 2,000 Tonnes at a yield of over 2.0 Tonnes per hectare by 2025, in addition to creating 1,000+ direct jobs in the agriculture sector. According to the farmers unions, every job created in the farming sector creates 7 more jobs in other related sectors. The project, therefore, will have additional benefits and spill-on effects on other sectors such as logistics, education and tourism.
“We are delighted to be working with H2020 to drive growth and sustainability in Equatorial Guinea’s agriculture sector to facilitate positive economic and social impact for farming communities and related sectors,” noted Mr. Kavaneet Dhami of KDHI.
A key focus will be to improve the capacity of smallholder farmers to trial, adopt and safely use best of breed-of-technology and inputs (including seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides) to boost their yields as well as identifying and equipping young men and women interested in farming as a business. The project will incorporate the use of advanced sensor technology and ICT infrastructure to enhance yields, allow for pest prediction and surveillance, support decision making and reduce project costs.
About Holding Equatorial Guinea 2020 Holding Equatorial Guinea 2020 (H2020) is a Co-Investment Fund which aims to invest in profitable projects that will reduce the economic dependence of the revenues generated by the hydrocarbons sector in Equatorial Guinea. H2020 analyzes and tests the feasibility of each project based on exclusively economic and commercial considerations, after which point the Board of Directors will release funds as a minority shareholder, with the foreign partner as a majority shareholder responsible for investing the remainder of funds and managing the project in its entirety. H2020 is led by Mrs. Mariola Bindang (General Director) and Mrs. Patricia Mbasogo Lima (Deputy General Manager).
About KDHI KDHI is a leading Agribusiness development firm that trains farmers, merges foreign and local capital, and secures off-take agreements to drive agriculture production in Sub-Saharan Africa and exponentially increase yields through data-driven processes. We work with our investors and strategic partners to bring world-renowned expertise to the countries in which we operate in order to catalyze greater food security for families, better health and nutrition, increased income, greater access to basic social services and increased productivity, as well as generating taxes of all kinds beneficial to the state (export revenue, agricultural equipment, etc.).
References
https://www.holdingequatorialguinea.com/
http://investineg.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Holding-EG-presentation_10.05.2017.pdf
https://www.reuters.com/article/equatorial-guinea-investment-idUSL2N0L81O520140203
