Increasing value of African mango and cashew production

project summary

Cashew and mango are high value crops ideal for export and important commodities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet production is severely affected by pests reducing yields and quality. Benin, for example, lost 42% of its mango value to fruit flies in 2006, hampering export earnings severely. Weaver ants protect several crops. This is applied in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) which has been successfully implemented in Australia and Asia. Here weaver ant IPM efficiency equals pesticide use in cashew and mango, is cheaper, locally available, sustainable and compatible with organic certification - without reduced yields. Preliminary studies show that weaver ant protection may increase African cashew production 4-5 fold and almost eliminate fruit fly problems in mango. The estimated economic value of this is $US 300 million per year in Benin and Tanzania. The project is expected to result in higher revenue to farmers, increased export earning via linkage to valuable export markets by adding organic certification to the value chain and protein availability via harvest of ant larvae. To obtain this, the price premiums that can be expected for organic cashew and mango in selected European markets will be investigated. Knowledge transfer to Africa will be integrated in building up research capacity on sustainable IPM in Benin and Tanzanian cashew/mango production at both the university and extension level to ensure sustainability and dissemination. Furthermore, the results may be used in other crops and countries.