"Amy Sangaré's mission when she founded Safi Roots last year was to promote exotic African fruit on the international market. "We now have an African sector that is becoming more professional, with good, healthy products that are unfortunately still relatively unknown. Our aim is therefore to promote these local African products internationally."
An "exceptional" marketing window for African food
Amy Sangaré facilitates the marketing of pineapples and coconuts from the African continent all year round, as well as mangoes, mainly of the Kent variety, from April to July. "Ivory Coast opens the West African mango campaign at the end of March, followed by Burkina Faso, Mali, and finally Senegal, which closes the season. We are fortunate to benefit from a very advantageous marketing window. At this time of year, African mangoes have very little competition from Latin American origins. Mexico and Peru have finished their season, and Brazil starts later. African mangoes are also closer to Europe than their Latin American counterparts, requiring 10 to 14 days by boat to reach the European market."
A growing sector
One of the biggest challenges facing the African mango sector is to consolidate a supply chain that can sometimes be fragile. However, the sector is developing and becoming more professional every year. "The players of the mango sector with whom I work are well established, with well-organized structures that work very smoothly. Ivory Coast, for example, saw its production area increase again this year, with exports reaching 40,000 tons in 2024, and we are confident that this growth will continue this year. Additionally, 80% of mangoes from Burkina Faso are now organically certified. At the same time, post-harvest processing continues to improve, with more and more cold storage. There is still a long way to go, but the sector is clearly becoming more structured. The African mango is no longer an alternative, but it is becoming a benchmark product."
The organic market: An opportunity for African mangoes
"With the rise of organic production in Europe, Africa clearly has a lot to gain. The African production model is naturally based on sustainable agriculture, given that very few phytosanitary treatments are used. This is partly because chemicals are expensive, but also because agricultural land is smaller and therefore easier to manage. The African agricultural sector is also not very mechanized, and production methods are still very traditional. African producers are used to working with what they have, and this is one of Africa's great strengths. They manage to find alternative solutions without resorting to chemicals. The majority of products from African agriculture have therefore always been organic, although not all of them are certified. But here again, the sector is becoming more professional, with more and more producers obtaining organic and global GAP certification."
For more information:
Amy Sangaré
Safi Roots
Phone: +33(0)7 52 54 68 52
[email protected]