U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council Consultant for Senegal Daouda Guindo (left) and USGBC Deputy Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Salah Bouthour (middle). Photo credit: U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council.
The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council expanded its efforts to promote U.S. corn and corn co-products in West Africa through visits to Guinea and the Ivory Coast earlier this month, highlighting growing opportunities in the region’s poultry, livestock and feed industries.
USGBC Deputy Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Salah Bouthour and Consultant for Senegal Daouda Guindo met with feed manufacturers, grain importers, livestock producers and government officials to strengthen technical partnerships and support development of the region’s feed sector.
In Guinea, the delegation identified significant market potential driven by investments in feed manufacturing and poultry production. Participants in the Council’s Feed Manufacturing Training Program reported that the technical knowledge gained through the program helped them expand into new business sectors. Industry representatives also expressed interest in additional staff training and grain quality testing equipment.
The Council said those developments reinforced the value of its technical training efforts and supported plans to launch a national poultry production workshop next year aimed at improving domestic poultry production and reducing reliance on imported poultry meat.
In the Ivory Coast, the delegation found a feed industry undergoing rapid expansion as major companies increase production capacity, build new feed mills and prepare to import feed grains directly. The Council also noted that U.S. grain trading companies are establishing operations in Abidjan, positioning the city as a regional grain trading hub serving the Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea.
According to the Council, those investments are expected to increase future demand for imported corn and other feed ingredients.
The delegation also toured Djera Farm, the country’s largest dairy operation. The approximately 1,700-acre integrated operation includes forage and grain production, dairy cattle, sheep, goats, poultry, on-farm feed manufacturing and milk processing.
USGBC identified Djera Farm as a potential partner for future technical cooperation in dairy nutrition, feed manufacturing, grain quality and livestock productivity. The Council said strengthening technical capacity in those areas can improve milk production, increase farm productivity and enhance feed management while creating additional demand for U.S. corn and corn co-products.
The Council said its work in both countries supports the development of more productive livestock industries while creating long-term opportunities for U.S. grain exports to West Africa.
