The nationwide project, supported by an IFAD loan and grant, will help Benin’s small-scale rural producers by developing well-integrated value chains for four non-cotton crops with a broader range of markets. The crops are roots and tubers, lowland rice, vegetables and pineapples. The overall goal is to support sustainable rural economic growth and poverty reduction.

The target groups are women, young people and men belonging to village-level groups involved in income-generating activities and their inter-professional unions, and rural micro and small-scale enterprises. Accessibility to the most vulnerable groups was a targeting priority.

The project’s key activities focus on the development of agricultural value chains and on rural infrastructure.

The project’s objectives are to support:

• the development of rural agro-based micro and small-scale enterprises and income-generating activities as actors in the priority value chains
• the establishment and strengthening of inter-professional unions that can defend members’ interests
• the construction of rural infrastructure to improve marketing of agricultural products

Village-level demand will guide project activities. The aim is to assist rural producers in building value chains that facilitate their access to financial, technical and other types of support, and also facilitate access to markets. In line with the government’s policy on decentralization, infrastructure will be planned and built in collaboration with the local government body representing village-level interests. The project places emphasis on strengthening both producers’ organizations at village level and their unions to ensure that farmers, producers, traders, exporters and others involved can influence decision-making within their value chains. 

The expected benefits of the project include:

• higher incomes for participants who undertake growing, processing and trading of cassava, rice, vegetables and pineapples
• lower transaction costs as a result of better roads and access to markets
• reduced vulnerability because of a broader range of cash crops

The project’s innovative features include: 

• application of the umbrella programme concept to all IFAD-financed interventions in Benin
• continuing support for consolidating and expanding the IFAD-initiated network of financial service associations
• implementation through delegated responsibility
• introduction of the ‘push-pull’ concept of market-driven support for production

Source: IFAD