The Gambia is the smallest country on the African continent, and its lifeline is the mighty river system that runs through it and gives the country its name. The river is also one of the reasons why agriculture is an intrinsic part of everyday life, as it feeds the countless subsistence farms that provide a livelihood for most of the country’s 2.6 million people.

In The Gambia, an emerging agribusiness is realizing its ambition to take Gambian produce to international markets, with targeted support from the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

Tropingo Foods is one such recently established agribusiness, masterminded by new graduate Momarr Taal, 35. He realized the potential of the fertile lands straddling the river and saw that if he could bring together producers from different farms in his home country and neighboring Senegal and packaged them as a brand, he could achieve the mass production capabilities needed to take locally-loved Senegambian produce to new international markets.

Momarr Taal, founder of Tropingo Foods, stand in front of hills of groundnut shells. © UNCDF / Nasser AlQatami

"UNCDF came at a time when we were looking to expand and helped us with capacity building; they gave us grant funding to upgrade our pack outs, which are fresh produce processed for export," said Mr. Taal, who has great ambitions for future scale-up. "We want to be the largest agro-processing company in The Gambia; we want to increase the output and build a more robust value chain that is less susceptible to external shocks; we need to be more resilient."

Thanks to the support of the Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) Programme, the agri-innovator, received a US$ 100,000 kick-starter grant from UNCDF to propel production to a new, more ambitious level, with a focus on the expansion of the value-adding processing facility. The JSF Programme is funded by the European Union (EU), with a budget of 15 million euros, and activities are jointly implemented by UNCDF and the International Trade Centre.

“The EU-funded JSF programme has enabled UNCDF to support the financing and development of the agriculture sector during the transition to a new democratic regime, revitalizing growth and opportunities for an under-utilized private agriculture sector,” said Niania Dabo, UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) Project Coordinator in The Gambia.

The JSF Programme leverages UNCDF’s expertise and experience to deliver a whole of society approach to development in The Gambia, one of the world’s 45 least developed countries. Activities focused on job creation, skills development – including entrepreneurial skills – and a variety of actions to equip individuals and small businesses with access to banking and financial literacy training, often for the first time. Cross-cutting all these activities was a strong focus on resilience-building to address the impacts of climate change that are devastating the country’s fragile economy and rural livelihoods, using the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL).

Mangoes growing in the Gambia. © UNCDF / Nasser AlQatami

Following the receipt of the JSF grant, Tropingo has been able to scale up operations. The company collects produce like groundnuts, cashews and mangoes from local farmers. Then, it checks the agricultural produce for quality, cleans and cuts the crops, taking care of all the processing and packaging ahead of it distributing for sale – initially across The Gambia and Senegal - but more recently Tropingo products have reached larger, more lucrative markets.

According to Taal, various products from Tropingo Foods are being sold across Africa and in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Dried mangoes were exported to Nigeria, Africa’s largest market by population and the Netherlands. Fresh mangoes have reached France, Belgium, Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As for Tropingo Foods’ groundnuts, they are in good demand in China, Indonesia and Viet Nam.

Groundnuts were the first produce that Tropingo Foods started processing and selling. They serve as the backbone of the business model that Taal began. Although they are a widespread crop in West Africa, they are in high demand across the region and internationally. And sales are only part of the groundnut success story; their processing and de-shelling would become Taal's next business venture and basis for a new complementary green business.

Taal realized that the shells of the groundnuts, which are usually discarded or left in heaps by processing plants, are nutritious natural fertilizers for many crops, including lettuce and mint. They can also be mixed with other fertilizers to improve soil quality, which farmers say is becoming increasingly poor as the impacts of climate change increase.

With the know-how and the abundant availability of this often-disposed commodity, Taal started another company on the back of the success of Tropingo Foods. The new company, called ‘M&I,’ sells affordable, waste-based fertilizer to farmers who increasingly need to replenish the nutritional value of their soil after years of growing and harvesting produce.

With the support of the JSF Programme, M&I also provides fertilizing solutions to the same farmers that provide the produce for Tropingo Foods. M&I not only offers agricultural solutions in The Gambia but also offers participating producers the opportunity to earn reciprocal gains and interests, strengthening the bond between smallholder farmer and manufacturer.

An employee of the processing facility, Isatou Darboe, 24, works by the airport packing mangoes for sale overseas. She joined Tropingo Foods after working unhappily for two years in a rented kiosk at Serrekunda Market, an informal sector job that provides an income for many Gambian women.

Ms. Isatou Dabroe works at Tropingo Foods and has benefitted from the trainings giving during her time as an empolyee. © UNCDF / Nasser AlQatami

She said the profit was not that good, and employment at Tropingo Foods enhanced her standard of living with a steady income and new skills, which she shares with her farming family and aims to utilize in her next business venture.

"Working at Tropingo Foods is more profitable than the market; it allows me to have savings. I am saving up more than before. Although I like my job, I want to open a hairdressing salon one day," said Ms. Darboe.

She continued: "I came from a family with a lineage of subsistence farming. Now, I am the first to seek full-time employment, and I am happy about that because I can support my mother."

Tropingo Foods offers its employees flexible work environments and ever-so-important agricultural training in cultivation, crop health, hygiene and quality control. Skills that many employees can relay back to rural agriculture, either on their own farms or those of family and community members. Plus, the accounting and financing skills that will help with any future venture.

Although she works mainly with mangoes, she says a local fruit called Kabba is picking up in regional markets. Kabba fruit (Saba senegalensis) is a local delicacy; it grows predominantly on the riverbanks and in the woodlands of The Gambia. The tree is considered a useful food crop and helps combat soil degradation in rural Africa. The fruit is often used to make juice, and this is a venture that Tropingo Foods is looking into.

Kabba Fruit (Saba Senegalensis).

Although Kabba fruit has yet to gain international eminence, there is excellent potential, considering it grows quickly and widely across The Gambia and many communities of West African heritage living in Europe particularly covet it.

Darboe said: "I want to do more training about every season and every crop. I like the training and use it in my day-to-day goals. When I visit my parents to share my newly-acquired knowledge on how to grow and preserve the crops for the long run or at least until we get them to market for sale and consumption."

Darboe is one of 300 employees, approximately 90 percent of whom are women benefitting from being a part of one of Gambia's most well-known startups. The many women employed by Tropingo Foods and its sister company benefit greatly from being a part of the team. They acquire knowledge and learn about market trends.

“Despite the challenging environment in accessing finance, Tropingo Foods, with UNCDF support, has been able to diversify its product lines, increase its processing capacity, create new jobs and effectively build the capacity of its network of smallholder farmers,” said Sirra Foon, a UNCDF Investment Specialist at The Gambia.