PYXERA Global and Dangote Farms Ltd. Partner to Eliminate Food Loss and Waste
In with partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation’s YieldWise Initiative
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 4, 2016 /3BL Media/ - Dangote Farms Limited and PYXERA Global signed a Memorandum of Understanding last week to help reduce food waste and loss in Northern Nigeria. This agreement stems from the YieldWise initiative, a partnership between The Rockefeller Foundation, PYXERA Global and other organizations to reduce post-harvest loss across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Approximately 40% of all produce is lost between farm and market in what is called post-harvest loss. Limited infrastructure and poor transportation and storage creates tremendous economic damage to emerging economies and preventable hunger.
“The whole idea is about ensuring the farmer is no longer in subsistence farming and is actually participating in commercial farming,” said Sani Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Farms, Vice President of Dangote Group at the 2016 World Economic Forum press conference announcing YieldWise. “Until we turn the tables around and reach a point where a farmer is making profit, there is going to be a continuous cycle of poverty.”
Through the newly formed agreement, Dangote and PYXERA Global will bolster the inaugural harvest of Nigerian tomatoes supplied to Dangote’s new tomato processing facility from approximately 600 smallholder farmers. Dangote Group, one of West Africa’s largest multi-conglomerates, is working through Dangote Farms Limited to start a new product line in tomato processing, while it enables market development within its home region.
PYXERA Global is an implementer of the Rockefeller Foundation’s YieldWise initiative that seeks to leverage market forces in the fight against post-harvest loss. The $130 million initiative, announced by the Foundation at the World Economic Forum in Davos, seeks to demonstrate how the world can halve food waste and loss by 2030.
“All of the food loss between farm and table could feed the 1.2 billion people hungry or malnourished over the next two months,” said Judith Rodin, President of The Rockefeller Foundation at the World Economic Forum. “In due course, local and regional economies can be transformed. With private sector players as key partners, YieldWise will focus on linking local small and large business that can be mutually beneficial.”
“This partnership is particularly valuable to PYXERA Global because it joins a major Nigerian corporation in the fight against post-harvest loss in its home market and leverages the support of The Rockefeller Foundation,” notes Harry Pastuszek, PYXERA Global Vice President of Enterprise Community and Development. “It’s an exciting moment to support smallholder farmers in northern Nigeria as they secure their space in the Dangote Farms Limited’s supply chain.”
To learn more about the issue of post-harvest loss, read here.
To learn more about The Rockefeller Foundation’s YieldWise Initiative, read here.
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For more than 25 years, PYXERA Global has leveraged the unique strengths of corporations, governments, social sector organizations, educational institutions, and individuals to enhance the abilities of people and communities to solve complex problems and attain mutually beneficial goals.
The PYXERA Global team is passionate and dedicated to navigating challenges and pinpointing purposeful global engagement opportunities for its clients and partners. Initiatives include a wide range of services from local content development to global pro bono programs and integrated community development efforts that transform lives and livelihoods.
