The Managing Director /CEO SIAL Network, Mr. Nicolas Trentesaux, in his welcome address gave a brief summary of what the future will look like in terms of the demand and innovation to meet up with the food demand in Africa by the year 2050 where the population is expected to be around 2.5 billion.
According to him, such a figure would mean that more than 25 percent of the world’s population will be African which gives opportunities to explore emerging trends in both gastronomy and product design.
On his part, Mr. Krishanu CHAKRAVARTY, Chief of Party – Prosper Cashew gave an overview of Cashew processing in West Africa with its enormous potential and major challenges facing the major leading producers like Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Ghana.
“Africa needs to create 30,000 jobs per million inhabitants every year to sustain its demographic growth. The agri-food sector faces a major challenge. Micro and small companies, which attract young people to rural manufacturing, urban distribution and catering, struggle to secure financing due to their size and number.”
