Kasana

Their history

François-Xavier and Augustin fell in love with Africa during a first trip to Uganda about ten years ago. In 2014, they launched Kasana. The idea is simple: to help farmers in Uganda, Togo and Burkina Faso by training them in solar drying techniques, thus enabling them to make use of surplus exotic fruits such as mangoes, bananas and pineapples. At Kasana, they are keen to recreate a connection between the consumer and the producer by establishing a short circuit between Europe and Africa. This ensures a fair price, better transparency and good quality. In addition, they redistribute part of the profits to agricultural cooperatives and associations such as Refugee Next Door, which, among other things, sets up schools and training centres to support local agricultural projects.

The many benefits of dried fruit

• Ecologically: they are dried in the sun and therefore do not require energy to be produced for processing. Furthermore, as the fruits have lost their water, their weight is considerably lower, which reduces the CO2 impact of their transport.
• In terms of food waste: dried fruit is usually made from surplus or less attractive fruit, which avoids food waste.
• Nutritious and tasty: the fruit is harvested on the spot when ripe, so its flavour is optimal and it retains its nutritional value since it is dried at less than 42°C.

Our cashew nuts from Burkina Faso

1. Reduction of pollution

Historically, the lack of infrastructure in West Africa, where cashew nuts are harvested, has meant that more than 90% of the nuts are sold raw, in their shell, to foreign traders at low prices. The structuring of the current cashew industry is therefore long and polluting: cashew nuts are mainly transported to India, Vietnam or Brazil (more than 10,000 km from their place of production) to be shelled and processed, then mixed with local nuts to be sold in Europe or North America.
Thanks to the creation of local processing infrastructures that allow Kasana to source directly from Burkina Faso, the carbon footprint generated by the traditional chain is divided by 12.

2. Creating added value 

This transformation of nuts on the spot is a major issue because a shelled nut is worth 3 times more than a raw nut! This creates many jobs in rural areas where unemployment is high.

• 340 producers are engaged in the cashew harvest.
• Another 170 are engaged in transformation, of which 90% are women.

This step is essential because it changes the status of the Burkinabe sector from that of simple suppliers of raw materials to that of exporters of semi-finished products, which considerably strengthens their bargaining power with regard to the actors of the sector.

3. A fair price 

Choupoubi producers sell their nuts at a price that allows them to cover their costs and make a profit while offering decent wages and working conditions.
Thanks to this fair price, Choupoubi has the resources to carry out various projects on site, ranging from monitoring and maintaining the orchards to carrying out community social work.

4. Respectful working conditions 

The huskers are mostly women, they work in safe conditions and are paid according to the legal standards of the country.