On Monday, 13 June 2022, the officials of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Benin (CDC Benin) and ORANA SA signed a partnership agreement for the installation of the citrus and pineapple processing unit in Za-kpota.
The signing of the agreement between CDC Bénin, represented by its Director General Létondé F. Brice HOUETON and Mr. Togbédji AHOKPA, promoter of ORANA SA, marks a new stage in the process undertaken by CDC Bénin to support the structural transformation of the economy and industrialization. With an annual production of more than 100,000 tons of citrus fruits, our country Benin continues to export almost all of this production, without adding value and also suffers a high rate of damage. To reverse this situation, the government has taken strong decisions to encourage the establishment of industries and the local processing of raw materials into finished products. This funding from the CDC Benin, concerns the establishment of an industrial production plant of citrus concentrates to international standards. The realization of this investment project, will transform in a first phase, about fifty thousand (50,000) tons of the production of oranges, into concentrate of juices intended for African, Asian, American and European markets. The cost of installing the plant is estimated at 2.6 billion FCFA and the entry into production is expected in the first half of 2023. The CDC Benin provides a little more than 1 billion FCFA, in equity (by entering the capital) to finance the equipment. The processing plant that will be located in Za-Kpota, by contributing to the creation of added value, will provide an increase in income to 46 cooperatives, bringing together more than 6,150 citrus producers, in addition to the low-risk financing opportunities to the Decentralized Financial Structures (DFS) that will lend to citrus producers. It will create 70 direct jobs and several hundred indirect seasonal jobs, linked to the planting and picking of citrus fruits. ORANA SA is a private company 100% owned by Benin citizens and which has obtained the concession of the site of the Za-Kpota orange processing plant from the Government. The signing of this financing agreement brings the cumulative amount of direct commitments from CDC Benin to CFAF 91.7 billion.
