Developing agricultural income in rural areas

Context

Benin is one of the world’s poorest countries. Particularly in the agricultural sector, many people live below the poverty line although they produce 80 per cent of Benin’s export goods.

There are several reasons for poverty among the agricultural population. The sector largely consists of smallholder farms with low productivity, and there is hardly any processing industry. Seeds, feed, fertiliser and other production inputs are difficult to procure. There is also a lack of widespread agricultural advisory services, which are underfinanced and poorly organised. The authorities responsible for agriculture are not efficient enough.

Objective

In the long term, methods for expanding agricultural incomes are mainstreamed among managers responsible for agricultural advisory services in two regions.

Approach

The project promotes agricultural development in four areas:

1. Policy advice: It supports the Ministry of Agriculture in implementing a national strategy for agricultural advisory services and development.
2. Knowledge transfer: It works with governmental and non-governmental institutions as well as companies to build their capacity for sharing knowledge on digitalisation and marketing with farms so that farmers can increase their productivity and efficiency.
3. Value chains: The project helps farms organise themselves in networks in order to modernise the cultivation, processing and marketing of rice, soy and shea nuts. It particularly supports women with new technologies and knowledge so that they can grow more rice in future that is also more resilient to the impacts of climate change, including drought, heat and flooding.
4. Vocational education and training: The project builds pilot projects that help improve curricula in agricultural vocational education and training.

Last update: August 2023