Operational Themes -
Economic Development
Technical card
Location: Benin, Centre
Dates: 2007-2010
Technical partners: CEBEDES (Centre for the Environment and Economic and Social Development), PlaNet Finance
Financial partners: European Commission, Poweo Foundation, French Ministry of Foreign, European Union, ABERME (Rural Electrification and Energy Management Agency)
Description of action
The rural areas of central Benin have seen their income from cash crops (cotton) decline to an alarming extent. There is, nevertheless, a wide variety of crops (cassava, groundnuts, maize, rice, oil palm, etc.) to which value could be added in order to alleviate the increasing precarious conditions faced by small farmers.
GERES Benin launched the PARIER programme in 2007, with support from PlaNet Finance, CEBEDES and ABERME. Based in Bohicon, the programme consists of a series of modernization measures aimed at enhancing small-scale post-harvest processing in order to increase the income from family farming.
The PARIER programme focuses on:
- building the capacity of local stakeholders: adding value to rural output means helping local stakeholders to draw up local strategies and organizational systems
- post-harvest development of local crops and products
New post-harvest techniques have been implemented in the programme area, especially with the introduction of new equipment for preserving and storing produce, while improving small-scale food processing by modernizing processes.
