Sustainability and Scale Up of Rural Agro-Processing Systems in West Africa

This study proposed a scale-up strategy for the Multifunctional Platform (MFP) in Senegal, with a focus on supporting sustainable income-generating activities and more commercially driven enterprises. MFPs provide rural villages with motive power for basic agro-processing and were installed with the goals of improving women’s livelihoods, expanding access to energy, and improving agricultural productivity.

Encouragingly, this study found strong value for villages in which an MFP has been installed. Women are the program’s primary beneficiaries, with the time-intensive and arduous agricultural processing tasks now completed quickly by the platforms. Labor savings manifest themselves in broad improvements in standard-of-living, health, food diversity, and education for village children.

The benefits of the program, however, are subject to a number of constraints including economic isolation of the villages, low productive capacities, mechanical breakdowns, the use of high-cost diesel and a rigid management structure.

To assess the most promising strategies for an enterprise-led scale-up, address the program’s constraints, and preserve its impacts, this study made several targeted recommendations. First, this study outlined a value chain approach focused on the Groupement d’Affaires to enhance its capacity for commercialization. Second, to implement this recommendation, this study used a segmented approach that reflected the economic diversity of villages in the MFP groups. Third, this study recommended the adoption of solar-powered or hybrid engines to reduce costs and attract new potential investors and partners. Finally, this study proposed that MFPs leverage other national electrification and development initiatives by considering on-grid platform installations and by collaborating with key strategic partners.