A mission of businesspeople from Benin made a technical visit today, September 6, to the headquarters of Embrapa Tropical Agroindustry in Fortaleza, CE, and to the Pacajus Experimental Field in the outskirts of the city, with the aim of learning about technologies developed by the Embrapa unit in the area of agroindustrial processing. The group is part of the BeninCaju project, linked to the nonprofit organization Technoserve (http://www.technoserve.org/benincaju). The body, which operates in 29 countries, helps entrepreneurs generate competitive business in the agricultural, services and industrial sectors. Altair Maia, an economist and consultant for Technoserve, underscores the fact that Embrapa is an international reference in cashew farming, and thus there was a lot of interest in getting to know the corporation. The technician reveals that it is the second mission Maia brings to the unit. The entrepreneurs work with cashew processing in the African country, but they feel the need for more comprehensive knowledge with regard to the processing of the fruit. “I am confident that we are going to acquire a lot of knowledge and maybe establish partnerships in the future”, Altair Maia comments. Learn more The Republic of Benin is a country located in West Africa, with a territory of 112.622 km², an area slightly smaller than the Brazilian state of Ceará. The capital is Porto-Novo, whose main economic activity is trade. Translation: Mariana Medeiros