NECOFA -Country report Benin

presented by Mr. Prosper Mondé

Introduction

Benin is one of West Africa poorest countries where more than 60% of the

(7million) population are engaged in agriculture. Cotton accounts for around 25% of export earnings. Much agriculture is subsistence, with maize, yam, cassava, groundnut, beans, rice, sorghum being the main crops.

Cotton is the only crop where there is significant use of artificial inputs as farmers only use these when they expect to recover their expenditure.

The agro-industrial sector (with the only fertilizer factory in country) encourages the use of its products on food crops. In practice the entire agricultural system are under organic management. So cotton and small quantity of pineapple) is the only export organic crop. The other crops, although they are not certified as organic products, remain. So because they are under organic management, which has to be, improved due to low crops yields through activities of

NGOs
NECOFA and
The others involved in promoting organic approaches in Benin.

NECOFA in Benin

In 2003 Benin become the first French Country member of NECOFA.

Our network consisted of resource persons, NGOs, Agricultural training centers, local radios, farmers, organizations and traders.

The main area of activity is information through:

production of newsletter in French and in five local languages; its diffusion by local radios
participation of farmers directly in a service called (SQR-MR) Questions and Answers;
promotion of the marketing of several food products a type of rice (Entourage), tree fruits (Anolanzonie ) cashew.

NECOFA in Benin intends to:

Experiment /collaborate with decentralized administration in opting for more sustainable approaches to agriculture.

Establish a center of training of farmers, creation of awareness, technology dissemination on exchange.

Promote exchange visits between farmers in different areas in Benin and mainly in other countries close to Benin like Ghana, Burkina –Faso, Togo, Niger so that they can learn from and inspire each other.

Market research in new products carried out through the maintaining of linkages with global organic market.

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