PICS Lessons Learned Workshop April 11, 2012

1. Capacity Building of Local Entrepreneurs to Improve the Distribution of PICS Bags in West and Central Africa D. Baributsa, J. Lowenberg-DeBoer, T. Abdoulaye, M. Shehu, C. Lontchi, S. Issaka, P. Batana, E. Korankye and O. Anyebe PICS Lessons Learned Workshop April 11, 2012

2. Making Cowpea Storage Technology Available to Farmers Supply bags- Supply chain Distributors Manufacturers Semi-wholesalers Semi-wholesalers Purdue University Vendors Vendors Vendors Vendors Farmers Farmers Organisations Cereal banks Cowpea vendors Create demand- Awareness Building

3. Supply Chain Development PICS bag vendors PICS bag manufacturers PICS bag retailers However, farmers have complained about the availability of PICS bags in rural communities.

4. Capacity Building Activities • PICS bags is a new product- awareness building is required for manufacturers, distributors, vendors, etc. • Help manufacturers meet PICS bag specifications- quality control • Provide feedback to manufacturers from end-users: farmers, and other users to address issues (sealing, missing bags, etc.)

5. Capacity Building Activities • Facilitate negotiations among supply chain members-order, payments, etc. • Help distributors promote, and expand retail distribution networks • Train distributor and vendors to facilitate collaboration and build trust.

6. Key Constraints to Adoption Its possible to have large adoptions/quick impact in rural communities in less than 2 years Percentages

7. Adoption des sacs PICS • Producteurs se plaignent de la distance aux points de ventes des sacs PICS

8. Trainings three components: • Presentation of the project • Supply Chain - Discussion- led by distributor Trainings serve as platform for: • identifying and discussing supply chain issues • recruiting new vendors • Teach them how to use PICS bags.

9. Background of Vendors • Sixty percent of the trainees were PICS bag vendors while the rest were entrepreneurs interested in the PICS bag business. • PICS bag vendors were recruited by: • distributors (55.6%), • project through consultants, radio messages, etc. (20.6%), • colleagues and friends (11.1%) • demand by farmers (12.7%).

10. Sales Strategies used by vendors

11. Of course many vendors say they know how to use PICS bags • 43% attended demonstration • 61% stored cowpea.

12. Challenges and strategies to increase bags sales - Quality include defective and missing bags - Availability- access and timely

13. Exercise with vendors on cost-benefit analysis of cowpea storage showed that PICS bags used twice were a cheaper and low risk alternative to insecticides.

14. Trainings helped vendors understand: • Project learn how vendors do their business • Vendors learn how to properly use PICS bags • Approach to market development of PICS bags • Market seasonality of PICS bags • Strategies to increase sales (roaming vendors) • Develop collaboration and trust among supply chain members (distributors, manufacturers,…) • Address several challenges- margins, quality, transportations, etc.

15. Thank you for your attention! Questions!