EOA-Initiative Benin Pillar I Report
EOA-Initiative Pillar I project activities achievements
Country Lead Organization: OBEPAB
Summary of Key Achivements
–Participatory appraoches adopted for addressing specific issues faced by farmers, processors
–Involving scientific researchers for validating and to credibilise the results
–Some key results
- Different liquids fertilizers developed for different crops using weeds and flowers
- Effects of the environment on pest management: this is done for tomatos and bananas
- Research on livestock: inventory of organic practices and experimentation of organic fodder
- Training of farmers, extension agents on basic principles of organic agriculture (batch of 50 in the southern part and 40 in the northern part of the country)
- Development of organic seeds for cotton (on going), tomatoes and local vegetables
Planned activities |
Activities performed |
Analysis |
| Activity 1.1.1: | 1-Literature review about palm cake and biopesticides use and poulchin poul | 3-The notion of organic farming is not yet spread. Livestock breeder who experiment ecological and organic livestock have not yet been trained in the field. Each one relies on his endogenous knowledge to practice ecological livestock |
| Conduct in-depth assessments to document available EOA research into use | 2-Collect information to document existing EOA research into use in the southern of Benin (Kpomassè, Allada, Toffo, Tori, Zê ) for pineapple and vegetable | |
| 3- Assessments of organic livestock systems (diversity, typology, folk perceptions, purposes in locals communities, socio-economic patterns for adoption, breeding species, ethical and cultural) | ||
| Activity 1.1.2 : | 1- Collect the information for identification, prioritization and validation of knowledge needs of value chains actors of organic and ecological products in Benin | 1-A workshop offered the actors the opportunity to know each other better, to discuss the challenges to the promotion of ecological and organic farming, to propose their knowledge needs to do better |
| Identify knowledge gaps needs and priorities by gender in the development of specific EOA value chains | 2- Study and to analyze the performance of practices and training needs in biological and ecological agriculture on pineapple and vegetable products | 3-The main determinants of consumer WTP for organic vegetables are i) income level, ii) Steadiness/firmness, iii) taste, iv) color , v) lack of damage, and vi) nutritional value |
| 3- Assessment of knowledge gaps needs and consumers’ motivations and willingness to pay organic vegetable product | ||
| Activity 1.1.4 : | 1- Experiment conduct with 10 farmers about the effectiveness of palm cake | 2- Data sheets “Fiche Technique” on the production of lettuce using “abc grower” and the chicken droppings have been produced and distributed to farmers |
| Validate research findings in EOA practices | 2- Installing a demonstration/ research plots using EOA research result for vegetable farmers in Sèmè kpodji (half way Cotonou and Porto-Novo) : determining the effect of fertilizer type on the production of lettuce | 3- 2 fertilizers to bring to the culture of the tomato at two different stages of development: 2nd and 8th week of culture |
| 3- Experimenting ABC Grower on tomatoes and basilic on participatory approaches | ||
| Activity 1.1.5: | 1-Ecological pest management in tomato’s production in south of Benin: case of Helicoverpa armigera pest | |
| Document application of local knowledge to development of EOA | 2-Experiment on Soybean residue to improve soil fertility in Organic Cotton production in Djidja | |
| 3-Demonstration plots on food spray on cotton farming in Kandi | ||
| Activities 1.2.1&1.2.2 : | 1-Training need of organic cotton producers and extension agents identified | – Report on training needs for EOA actors in vegetable, cotton, soya beans and pineapple |
| Identify training needs for EOA actors by gender (producers, extension agents, marketers, processors, regulators and consumers) in the value chains | 2- The analysis of the curricula with regard to the training needs in EOA have been done | – The analysis of the curricula with regard to the training needs in EOA showed a weak diversification of the training offer in EOA which remains too concentrated on the aspects of production |
| Activity : 1.2.3: Sensitize stakeholders about the recommended EOA curricula and training materials | 03 training sessions conducted on good EOA farming practices for organic cotton for field agents and producersElaboration of pamphlets to be used to raise awareness of training structures to integrate organic and ecological livestock production into training curricula | |
| Activity 1.2.5: Support short course trainings for targeted actors in EOA value chain to build capacities on identified gaps | 40 students and extension agents have been trained on EOA | – |
Pillar 1 : Lessons learned
- The participatory approach of Producers-Researchers-NGOs is a good approach for an effective implementation of the pillar
- The involvement of the researchers in the research on EOA makes research more credible and scientific
- The validation of research results is a long process that depends on crop cycle and the repetition of experimentation
- Collaboration between researchers and farmers in research results in good ownership of research results by farmers