KEY RESULTS

• Trade integration | The Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) support has helped Chad successfully integrate trade into its national development strategy. 
• Commodity diversification | EIF support has helped Chad diversify its economy and reduce its dependency on oil. 
• Poverty reduction | The EIF contributed to poverty reduction in Chad through strengthened capacity and increased exports in the gum arabic sector.
• Skills development | EIF-targeted trainings and technical support in Chad's hides and skin sector led to improved skills and increased quality of products.

Centrally located on the African continent, Chad shares a border with six countries. Chad is Africa’s fifth-largest country and its largest landlocked country. Due to its geography, Chad is reliant on neighbouring countries – such as Cameroon and Sudan – for access to seaport infrastructure.

Chad’s history of conflict and its dependency on oil have resulted in a number of social, political, and economic challenges that disproportionately impact its poorest citizens. While the country’s main exports are oil and gold, agriculture is a crucial driver of the economy, with the majority of Chadians relying on subsistence farming and livestock rearing. Gum arabic, sesame, cattle, and cotton are Chad’s primary agricultural exports.

In order to improve livelihoods across the country, Chad has been striving to create a more competitive and diversified economy. These goals have been articulated in government planning documents, including its long term strategy Vision 2030: The Chad We Want and its National Development Plan (2017-2021). The EIF has been working with Chad to integrate trade into its national development plans and several sector strategies. A key area targeted for economic reform in pursuit of Chad’s Vision 2030 is diversifying its economy and curtailing its reliance on oil exports. Mr Mahamat Touka Saleh, the EIF’s former National Implementation Unit (NIU) Coordinator in Chad, reports that new investments are helping to diversify exports and generating sustainable jobs in rural communities.

Integrating trade into national development plans

The EIF launched an initiative in July 2011 to strengthen the country's institutional capacity by building the skills and structures needed to integrate trade into Chad’s development priorities. At that time, economic growth was driven primarily by the oil sector and – unlike other priority sectors, such as agriculture and livestock – the trade sector had not benefited from sustained government funding.

This support, which ended in May 2017, was crucial for helping to transform Chad’s social, political, and economic environments. The trade integration initiative was particularly timely due to a deep recession from 2016-2018, triggered by a precipitous drop in oil prices.

The NIU in Chad helped develop and implement the country’s National Trade Strategy and supported the implementation of its national development plans (NDP 2013-2015 and NDP 2017-2021). In 2016, a presidential decree integrated the NIU into the Ministry of Industrial and Commercial Development and Promotion of the Private Sector.

The NIU provided essential trade-supportive capacity-building efforts, which generated effective integration of trade into national planning and achieved a high level of stakeholder ownership. Technical assistance was also provided to other structures within the Ministry of Trade and Industry. Together, these EIF-supported actions greatly strengthened the Ministry’s ability to prepare, formulate and implement policies aimed at diversifying and expanding trade. Coordination with the private sector was also strengthened through an established public-private coordination mechanism.

Finding potential in unexplored trade sectors

In April 2013, Chad’s NIU organized a workshop for ministries, civil society actors and industry groups. The workshop identified a handful of non-fossil fuel commodities with potential for commercial development and value addition, including natron (a complex sodium carbonate), dates and sesame. 

Unlike more conspicuous commodities, these three sectors had not been on the agendas of donors and development partners. With little data available to gauge the potential of the sectors, the EIF undertook value-chain studies for each product and identified potential areas of intervention. The studies were later validated at an NIU-organized workshop, which also underscored the wide range of economic development opportunities associated with strengthening these sectors.  

The studies revealed that natron – which is found in dried lake beds and used primarily as a supplement – had promising potential in the livestock farming sector, especially as feed and medicine for cattle and camel breeding. It also analysed the conditions under which natron is extracted and exported from Chad, highlighting the importance of considering the needs of end consumers in the product’s value chain.

Dates are a popular fruit enjoyed around the world and are a staple commodity in many regions. They are usually eaten fresh, although they are sometimes fed to animals during the lean season. The value-chain study, conducted by the NIU with support from the EIF, found that Chad’s desert climate (much of northern Chad is covered by the Sahara Desert) could benefit from improved support for its palm groves. Date palm groves are a key component of the oasis system: they create a microclimate that enables crops and small livestock to flourish under extremely arid conditions. 

While Chad is still a marginal producer in the global date market, there are promising areas for improvement. The first key step is to increase knowledge and research on Chadian palm groves and the resources needed to maintain them. This will help enhance both the production and productivity of local dates, which already have a captive market at the national level. 

Sesame oil has aphrodisiac, therapeutic and culinary properties, making it the main commercial product of sesame processing. The study on the sesame sector showed that investment in the processing and promotion of sesame products could significantly boost Chad’s share of the world’s sesame market. Chad’s primary export destinations for sesame are Benin, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Sudan. Chad’s sesame oil value chain could benefit from better organization, especially in production, which would help bolster the sector, improve national food security and enhance economic stability for producers.

The results of the studies on the natron, date and sesame value chains have been taken into account by the Government of Chad in its National Development Plan (NDP 2024-2028). These studies have also enabled other stakeholders to implement support programmes for these previously unsupported sectors. 

Gum arabic: Restoring an ancient trade

The EIF has also supported Chad in strengthening its gum arabic sector. Gum arabic, a resin tapped from the acacia tree, is an additive used in carbonated drinks, food and cosmetics. The development of Chad’s gum arabic sector since 2010 has led to it becoming the second-largest global producer after Sudan. From 2010 to 2022, Chad’s production of gum arabic almost tripled, from 14,551 tonnes to 42,000 tonnes. 

The EIF has supported the sector through a project aimed at increasing commercial capacity, the success of which spurred increased awareness of, and interest in, gum harvesting. Targeted support for the sector was invaluable in training producers and helping them form co-operatives. Producers organized themselves into ten unions, two co-operatives, three regional associations and one national interprofessional association to collaboratively sell their products for better prices.

Harvesting techniques were also greatly improved through these efforts, which increased production, productivity and quality. According to the International Trade Centre (ITC), the volume of gum arabic exports from Chad is expected to double between 2020 and 2025. The sector is now Chad’s third most important export in terms of value – after oil and cotton – with some USD 30.6 million worth of the product exported in 2022 to destinations such as China, France, Germany, India and the United States. 

For local gum harvesters – whose economic opportunities are limited – this increase in production and export volumes has come as especially encouraging news. Gum arabic farmers sell to local agents of major suppliers who, in turn, sell to exporters in Chad and Nigeria for shipment overseas. 

Building capacity in the hides and skins sector

In 2010, ITC carried out a study on the hides and skins value chain, which drew attention to the need to strengthen capacity in the sector. In particular, the hides and skins sector was facing constraints due to a lack of domestic mastery in skinning and preservation techniques to guarantee good-quality products. There was also an absence of training and suitable tools.

In light of this, the NIU implemented an EIF-funded project to improve the competitiveness of the sector by building the skills of stakeholders. A wide range of beneficiaries – including butchers, tanners and craftspersons – were provided with skills training in a number of areas, including skinning techniques, administrative and financial management, and approaches to curbing the environmental impacts of the sector. The tanning process involves the use of a number of chemicals and organic compounds that can be detrimental to the environment. EIF support allowed tanners to be trained on the use of plant-based techniques and best practices for wastewater management, which reduced industrial pollution and improved public health.

Producers were also provided with new technical equipment, which led to a marked improvement in working conditions as well as in the quality of skins and hides that could be produced. 

Strengthening capacity in of the hides and skins sector, as well as the gum arabic sector, has been, and continues to be, integral to Chad’s Vision 2030. This, along with the government’s commitment to developing its natron, date and sesame sectors, is bringing the country one step closer to sustained economic growth, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development, while reducing vulnerability associated with excessive dependence on oil and gold for export revenue.