Promoting agriculture in Benin

laufendes projekt

ContextBenin is one of the world’s poorest countries. Particularly in theagricultural sector, many people live below the poverty linealthough they produce 80 per cent of Benin’s export goods.There are several reasons for poverty among the agriculturalpopulation. The sector largely consists of smallholder farmswith low productivity, and there is hardly any processingindustry. Seeds, feed, fertiliser and other production inputs aredifficult to procure. There is also a lack of widespreadagricultural advisory services, which are underfinanced andpoorly organised. The authorities responsible for agricultureare not efficient enough.ObjectiveIn the long term, methods for expanding agricultural incomesare mainstreamed among managers responsible for agriculturaladvisory services in two regions.ApproachThe project promotes agricultural development in four areas:1. Policy advice: It supports the Ministry of Agriculture inimplementing a national strategy for agricultural advisoryservices and development.2. Knowledge transfer: It works with governmental and nongovernmental institutions as well as companies to buildtheir capacity for sharing knowledge on digitalisation andmarketing with farms so that farmers can increase theirproductivity and efficiency.3. Value chains: The project helps farms organise themselvesin networks in order to modernise the cultivation,processing and marketing of rice, soy and shea nuts. Itparticularly supports women with new technologies andknowledge so that they can grow more rice in future that isalso more resilient to the impacts of climate change,including drought, heat and flooding.4. Vocational education and training: The project builds pilotprojects that help improve curricula in agriculturalvocational education and training.Last update: August 2023

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