The once-powerful kingdom of
Dahomey and more recently one of Africa's largest cotton producers, Benin is
today one of the continent’s strongest democracies.
Thanks to its democratic values,
peace and stability, the country’s international stature has continued to grow.
In January 2012, Benin President Yayi Boni was elected Chairperson of the
African Union.
Since Benin’s economy is mainly
based on agriculture and the government has accorded an important place to agriculture
and food security, it is not surprising that three international agricultural
research Centers of the CGIAR Consortium are represented in the country.
The three Centers comprise the
Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), the International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA) and Bioversity International (Bioversity). AfricaRice’s
temporary headquarters operates from a research station near Cotonou – Benin’s
economic capital – which also serves as the outreach location for IITA and
Bioversity.
As Benin is one of the 24 member
countries of AfricaRice, which has a special status as an intergovernmental
pan-African research organization, the bonds between the two are particularly
strong.
Spanning over a quarter century,
this partnership has grown significantly as rice has become critical for food
security in the country, particularly in the urban areas.
The situation is similar in other
African countries as rice is today the single most important source of dietary
energy in West Africa and the third most important for sub-Saharan Africa as a
whole.
Rice consumption in the continent
is growing faster than that of any other major staple. In Benin, for example,
it is estimated that the total rice consumption grew at 17% between 2001 and
2010, while production grew at only 12.3% over the same period. To keep pace
with the demand, Benin resorts to heavy imports; this makes it highly
vulnerable to international market shocks.
However, over the last few years,
with the technical support of AfricaRice, Benin has put in place policies and
strategies to support the domestic rice sector. As a result, rice production in
the country increased by 36% between 2007 and 2008 and a national rice
development strategy has been successfully developed.
AfricaRice carries out several
joint projects in close association with the Benin national program – Institut
national des recherches agricoles du Bénin (INRAB) – focusing on priority areas
identified by the country.
This collaborative work has
delivered sizable benefits for Benin and the region as a whole, such as
productive varieties like upland and lowland NERICAs; improved natural resource
management options; efficient post-harvest technologies; and a wide array of
participatory methods, innovation systems and learning tools, such as rice
learning videos that facilitate technology adoption.
The Center has contributed
importantly to strengthening the rice research and development capacity of its
Beninese partners both through fellowships and group training of actors across
the value chain.
“The partnership between Benin and AfricaRice
continues to be very pro-active and productive. In addition, there is strong
political will at the highest level of the country to support the rice R&D
sector,” said AfricaRice Director General Dr. Papa Abdoulaye Seck.
