August 29, 2020

From a crisis to a successful food processor

Staple Crops

In 2002, a socio-political crisis erupted in Ivory Coast. Nana Sabine, who was residing in Abidjan at the time, returned to her homeland of Burkina Faso as part of a repatriation operation called 'Bayiri'. Upon arrival with other returnee women, she created a new association, whose main activity was the processing of cassava into fresh attiéké (a traditional cassava-based dish). In the Mooré language, 'nana-lim' simply means food at a lower cost. Nana is the founder of NANALIM, a processing company for agro-food products, particularly cassava. Aware of the inaccessibility of the inhabitants of the Sahel and other remote regions to quality attiéké, NANALIM looked to innovate the processing in order to make it easy to conserve. Today, dried and fresh attiéké are marketed throughout Burkina Faso and also exported to neighboring countries under the brand Nanatiéké (affordable attiéké in the Mooré language).

Inclusive partnership for a better value chain

To provide high quality attiéké to an increasingly selective and demanding clientele, NANALIM has positioned itself at the heart of a well-structured supply chain which allows the company to meet demand for transforming fresh attiéké into dried attiékié and sells. The company collaborates with other small cassava paste processing units, mostly women, who source from smallholder cassava farmers in Burkina Faso. The difficulties here are that most producers can grow different varieties of cassava in the same field, while all varieties are not suitable for attiéké. Therefore one of the objectives of Nanalim, in its partnership with 2SCALE, is to improve the organization of the value chain through the inclusion of 2,105 smallholder farmers and 150 small and medium enterprises - including women and youth.

Empowering women and youth

Gender promotion occupies a prominent place within NANALIM. The company paid for equipment and installed units for women. These units also employ other women and youth to produce and market fresh attieké. Serving as a model for changing behavior and attitudes, in order to fight against women and youth unemployment, Nana is committed to sharing her experience with women and youth to encourage them to go into entrepreneurship. Today, she is very satisfied with the number of women she has coached and who are still active and fulfilled in their activities, as they have become examples of women who take responsibility and participate in the development of their families. She concludes:

We cannot fight against food insecurity and put gender aside; since the woman is the pillar of the family. We have installed a lot of processing units which are run by women. I will always be present to help other women so that they can emancipate themselves and especially in the food industry.

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