UNIDO partners with German VDMA to support agribusiness

12 September 2013. VIENNA. The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and and countries with economies in transition, and help them increase value addition.

A partnership agreement was signed in Vienna by LI Yong, the Director General of UNIDO, and Richard Clemens, Managing Director of the Food Processing and Packaging Machinery Association and the Process Plant and Equipment Association within the German Engineering Federation (VDMA).They will work together to build the capacity of agribusiness value chains in developing countries

The partnership between UNIDO and VDMA will focus on developing and extending the skill-base necessary for the provision, acquisition and effective deployment of technology and methodology in agribusiness value chains, with particular emphasis on the establishment of operational and capacity-building maintenance centres of excellence in Africa.

VDMA Managing Director Richard Clemens

Such centres in selected locations in Africa will assist in developing a culture of maintenance as a strategic prerequisite to industrialization and the enabling of agricultural value chains. They will also provide maintenance services for key categories of equipment used in agribusiness, including from production to processing, transportation, warehousing, energy and irrigation. They will operate as trade schools to train and certify people in the relevant technical skills and in maintenance management.

"Without technology it will not be possible to supply the increasing population with food and drink. This holds in particular true for Africa. The contribution of VDMA to this partnership is providing technology and state-of-the-art know-how of the machinery manufacturers in order to support the centres of excellence for education, maintenance and repair of equipment," 

"Our aim is to establish a widely recognized training in line with the current technical practice. The leadership of German machinery manufacturers in technology and service will ensure the high quality level of this centre of excellence."  

The German Engineering Federation (VDMA) started looking into prospective locations for the centres of excellence for maintenance and repairing of equipment in Africa, and has sent VDMA officials to Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. In June 2013, a group of senior managers from 18 German manufacturing firms went on a mission to Kenya.

VDMA represents over 3,100 mainly small and medium-sized enterprises in the engineering industry, and is the largest engineering industry network in Europe.