Psaltry is a Nigerian company that markets cassava produce such as food grade starch, garri and flour. Customers include Nestle and Nigerian Breweries (the local subsidiary of Heineken). Since inception in 2005, Psaltry has created a supply chain consisting of 5,000 farming families, marketers, laborers, traders, transporters and retail input suppliers.
Five years ago, 2SCALE partnered with Psaltry and Heineken to pilot a business model through which Nigerian Breweries would be able to access maltose syrup, utilising cassava produced by smallholder farmers and then processed into starch by Psaltry.The partnership helped to reduce risks related to sourcing through thousands of cassava farmers, and to accelerate the expansion and strengthening of the out-grower scheme. As planned the 2SCALE partnership was phased out in 2018, but also due to Nigerian Breweries' switch to sorghum as a more competitive source of sugar. Adekanni Sharafan shared how beneficial their association with Psaltry as a farmer has been for her:
A lot has been achieved under the first phase of this partnership. Through an advocacy campaign and trust building interventions with transporters, transport costs were reduced by over 20%. Psaltry invested in a new processing line to produce high quality cassava flour in addition to starch, to diversify its markets. The company increased its local sourcing volumes by 30% during the 4-year partnership. We look forward to creating even more impact in the next phase.
