News Archive
Eden Products at heart of African Initiative
Eden is pleased to announce that Lachlan (Kenya) Ltd, of Nairobi, has recently won funding of up to $697,000 from the African Enterprise Challenge Fund ("AECF") for its new initiative utilising Eden's products based upon low risk terpene active ingredients. Lachlan will also provide matching funding of
$1.67 million for the project.
Competition for funding from the AECF is intense with only 39 out of over 2,500 projects receiving support to date. The AECF is open only to private companies whose projects are innovative, commercially viable and will have a demonstrable impact on the lives of the rural poor in Africa. The goal of the AECF is to accelerate pro-poor growth in Africa, thereby increasing employment, livelihood opportunities and incomes, and reducing poverty.
Lachlan's project utilises Eden's portfolio of low-risk products for disease and insect control as part of the Madea Group's backpack programme, where rural farmers are given a complete kit of pest control products, together with application equipment and training in their safe use in order to improve the food productivity in rural areas.
Eden Research licensed its products and technology to Lachlan group in 2009 for the whole East African region and registration work is already underway in Kenya. The AECF/Lachlan project runs for 5 years and its support will enable Lachlan to pursue registration and development work in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia and Malawi.
Commenting on the AECF funding, Richard StoneWigg of Lachlan (Kenya) Ltd said "We are delighted to have this opportunity to bring Eden's innovative low risk products to market quicker than we would otherwise have been able. Their activity against a range of disease and insect problems coupled with outstanding safety to the users and environment can bring great benefit to rural communities throughout the region."
Clive Newitt, Managing Director of Eden Research PLC said "We are pleased to be associated with such a prestigious programme. Not only will growers of high value export crops benefit from the introduction of our range, but potentially all rural farmers and their communities will be able to improve food production whilst reducing the risks arising from the use of conventional pesticide programmes."
Hugh Scott, Director of the AECF, said: "We are delighted to be working with Lachlan to make a difference to the lives of thousands of rural smallholder farmers in East Africa and beyond. We would encourage the private sector to follow Lachlan's lead in investing in Africa's rural areas for mutual benefit."
The directors of Eden are responsible for the contents of this announcement.
For further information:
Eden Research plc
Clive Newitt, Managing Director
01993 862761
St Helens Capital Partners LLP
Mark Anwyl
020 7368 6959
NOTES TO EDITORS
Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund
The AECF is a US$50-100 million fund spanning Southern, Eastern, West and certain Francophone African countries. The AECF, which invites the private sector to bid for its funds through open and transparent competitions, seeks to support innovative business ideas that are commercially viable and have positive development impact on poor people living in rural areas across Africa. It is a "Special Partnerships Initiative" of AGRA (Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa) created with funding from the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA) and, more recently, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). The AECF, based in Nairobi, Kenya, is managed by KPMG Development Advisory Services.
For more information on the AECF please visit www.aecfafrica.org or contact info@aecfafrica.org.