Aduna’s pilot partnership with the African Union-led Great Green Wall has achieved some significant results as it strives to build a global value chain for baobab in rural Africa.
The Great Green Wall initiative undertakes to build and preserve an 8,000km wall of trees across the African Sahel to regenerate land, create jobs and food security and prevent migration. 80% of Sub-Saharan Africans rely on the land to survive but desertification, caused by climate change, is making it impossible for communities in the Sahel to earn livings.
This pilot tie-up has expanded Aduna’s existing baobab fruit value chain in Ghana and Burkina Faso, increased the capacity of its processing centre and implemented a land restoration programme. So far, this has created sustainable livelihoods for 1,823 women from 44 communities, and in doing so transformed the lives of 11,000 of their dependents. In addition, 12,000 baobab trees have been planted, producing a far-reaching positive impact on the environment
We are delighted to have joined forces with the African Union and the Great Green Wall to scale up our baobab supply chain and kick-start the creation of a new billion-dollar baobab industry for rural Africa, that can sustain ten million households
Baobab trees are drought-resistant and can thrive in the most degraded land, sequestering carbon and fighting desertification caused by water and soil erosion. Baobabs are community-owned and produce a highly nutritious fruit in the middle of the dry season. The fruit is so abundant that the majority currently goes to waste. Selling surplus fruits creates valuable income for households.
“Over the past five years, baobab has risen from obscurity to one of the world’s best-selling superfoods and we are now seeing unprecedented interest in it as a food ingredient,” says Aduna CEO Andrew Hunt. “This has been driven by its unique combination of delicious taste, health benefits and its ethical and environmental credentials. We are delighted to have joined forces with the African Union and the Great Green Wall to scale up our baobab supply chain and kick-start the creation of a new billion-dollar baobab industry for rural Africa, that can sustain ten million households.”
Elvis Tangem, Great Green Wall coordinator at the African Union, adds: “Our partnership with Aduna is a pilot which demonstrates how an entirely new value chain can be created from village to shelf based on an indigenous tree crop. The outcome is a blend of land restoration and income generation. Our vision is to replicate this model with a range of different ingredients across the Great Green Wall. By connecting Sahelian producers to the global market we can create green jobs, reverse desertification and climate change and remove the need to migrate on an unprecedented scale.”
