ITFC and OCP Africa will jointly introduce a new “OCP School lab”
campaign in Senegal in November 2019
The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation, (ITFC,
International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation) (ITFC-IDB.org), a
member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group, and OCP Africa )
(OCPAfrica.com), a subsidiary of OCP SA, have signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) that will cater towards strategic funding,
innovation and capacity building measures to increase agricultural
production yields and income levels for Africa’s smallholder farmers.
The agreement was signed between Mr Karim Lotfi Senhadji, CEO, OCP
Africa and ITFC CEO, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol.
The MoU will increase collaboration between ITFC and OCP Africa in
various areas, including smallholder farmer training on sound
agricultural practices; soil testing and fertility management to support
better yields; innovation and digitalization tools to modernize
agricultural practices; and capacity building and support of young
farmers for sustainable and inclusive development.
Commenting on the MoU, Eng. Hani Salem Sonbol, CEO, ITFC, said that the
cooperation with OCP Africa is in line with ITFC’s mandate to support
the development of strategic value chains in countries member of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “The services provided by
ITFC in the agricultural sector, both in terms of trade financing and
tactial support, has expanded significantly over the past years,
targeting critical areas of the value chain, from farm input to
processing, pre-export, and export. The sector is also one of the value
chains that is ready for innovation and SME development.”
OCP Africa’s CEO, Karim Lotfi Senhadji said, “The smallholder farmer is
central to OCP Africa’s strategy to support the transition of farming
communities from subsistence farming to modern, sustainable
agri-business. Our aim is to strengthen the continent’s agriculture
ecosystems thus enabling African farmers to prosper. The agreement with
ITFC will support efforts to train farmers on best farming practices,
test soils for accurate fertilizer recommendations, facilitate access to
financing, and improve access to markets”.
ITFC and OCP Africa will jointly introduce a new “OCP School lab”
campaign in Senegal in November 2019. A flagship program of OCP Africa,
OCP School Lab is an innovative program aimed at increasing the yields
and the incomes of smallholder’s farmers on strategic crops by offering
a full set of agri-services:
A School: interactive training sessions with live demos on good
agricultural practices and animated videos in local dialects for higher
impact
A mobile Lab: Soil-testing using latest innovations (X-rays, big data
and machine learning) and live information on soil needs and fertilizer
recommendations
ITFC has been providing significant support to ensure food security in
Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2018, trade finance approvals for the food &
agriculture sector amounted to US$749.6 million, representing 14.4% of
the total trade finance portfolio, a 71% increase compared to the
previous year. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 50% of ITFC’s food &
agriculture sector financing extended in 2018.