New MIS and Monitoring Coordinator Aims to Improve Supply Chain
Mr. Olivier Kabré joined the ACA team on the 3rd of April, 2013 as the Market Information System (MIS) and Monitoring Coordinator. Prior to his appointment for this position, he worked with Agribusiness and Trade Promotion, a USAID West Africa program, as an MIS consultant. Olivier is a holder of a License Degree in Physics and Chemistry and a Master’s Degree in applied computer engineering from the University of Ibn Zorh, Agadir, Morocco. Olivier is fluent in French, speaks English and some West African languages such as Moore and Bambara.
ACA: Tell us about your experience with MIS and your interest in the field
OK: Market Information System is a domain that I’ve worked in for more than 7 years now. My interest in MIS is to bring a contribution to cashew market development in Africa. Also to help farmers access the market and gain more profit for their activities. I was specifically interest in this position because I used to work on different types of value chains in West Africa, helping facilitate transactions. I was interested in ACA’s Market Information System because cashew is a cash crop, thus is a more structured value chain than other African crops. The way market info should intervene in trade activity is much easier in a value chain oriented for trade – this drew my attention.
ACA: What have you learned about cashew so far?
OK: I see that Africa has great potential, and ACA really works to address the issue of being first in the world by developing a crop like cashew. I’ve seen that in 10 years, Africa has been able to double their production in RCN, surpassing other countries outside of Africa that were producing more. Africa clearly has a lot of potential with production of cashew.
ACA: How do you think the African cashew market can continue to improve?
OK: I think we need to do more, on our side, in the other links along the value chain. The production is increasing quickly, so we also need to address the other issue in the chain, to improve the quality and processing, so that we are able to face the world market.
ACA: What would you like to achieve and how do you see the MIS system developing?
OK: I think that the Market Information System in the cashew industry can help improve the supply chain of cashew – for the raw nut and the kernel. So MIS can especially help farmers to make better decisions in fixing the prices of their product, and also be able to aggregate their production. It should help them have better access to processors and traders that want to purchase their product. The goal of the MIS is to enable the ease, and better management of the supply chain.
