PASDA, the Agricultural Development Support program is a back-up unit of DANIDA (Danish International Development Agency) in Benin. This program which focuses on food crops has a 5-year life span running from 1997 to 2001, with a total budget of 13 billion F CFA, 3 billion of which have been earmarked for the research and development of post-harvest technology.

This project is the first of its type in Benin, i.e. in its role to support and reinforce several existing organisations and activities. It is being implemented by the Beninese government through the different national agencies enjoying the support of DANIDA. PADSA is also unique in the sense that it supports the private sector directly through the same programme in the same approach as the project.

DANIDA's ultimate objective as an agricultural development support agency is to improve the living standard of rural producers by enhancing their competitiveness and ability to capture new markets.

The Beninese government and DANIDA have agreed on four intermediate objectives which came out as priority issues in the Rural Development Policy circular (Lettre politique du Developpement rural) of 1991. These objectives will inform the choice and realisation of interventions on each of the four major themes of PADSA.

Theme I: Reform of the Agricultural Sector
To improve and reduce the cost of state intervention in the agricultural sector

Theme II: Food insecurity and rural poverty
To reduce food insecurity and rural poverty

Theme III: Development of post-harvest systems
To upgrade the value of livestock and food crop production in such a way as to benefit the rural population and consumers

Theme IV: Social and economic integration of women
To improve the social and economic integration of women in rural development.

Each theme involves many activities which are either executed by a Private or Public agency. The co-ordination office of each agency is responsible for monitoring the execution units of both the public and private sector.

Theme I
Reform of the agricultural sector includes support for PASA (Agricultural Support Program) preparation as well as for the intermediate phase of the PRSA (Agency for Agricultural Services Restructuring) located at the Ministry of Rural Development, and co-financed by several financial donors including the World Bank. As the government is committed to ensuring the transfer of skills to the private sector, this theme also includes a support programme for professional associations of farming communities and NGOs.

Theme II
Control of food insecurity and rural poverty mainly concerns private agencies and includes an assistance programme for PILSA (Project for local intervention in food contamination) co-financed with the World Bank, reinforcement of the skills of professional associations of farming communities and NGOs, an assistance programme for the Songhai Project and the different rural financing systems of NGOs and PAGER (Revenue-generating activities Department) co-financed by IFAD.

Theme III
Development of post-harvest systems provides support for the development of post-harvest technologies and the dissemination of information on advanced post-harvest technology for farmers through CARDER offices, and in the private sector by NGOs and associations of farming communities.

Theme IV
Social and economic integration of women contributes to sectoral policy development services and to the services for direct support to Women groups of the MDR. In the private sector, the activities in this theme are oriented to controls non-governmental organisations involved in the improvement of the standard of living of rural women.

It is Theme II - Development of post-harvest systems - that concerns us in this seminar.

The traditional technologies that are still being used in Benin are the culmination of a long process of experimentation and adaptation, which forces the farmer to look for appropriate ways of solving his problems through his own efforts. These techniques come under the subsistence and internal consumption economy. Exchanges were far from being monetary and the towns hardly developed at that time. Also desertification and urbanisation had not spread as widely as they have today.

All the changes in the post-harvest system of Benin create a situation whereby producers and food processing organisations are gradually loosing their ability to control the technical aspects of handling, treating and processing their products for introduction into the market. Prominent among these is the problem posed by the drying and storage of maize, especially in the southern part of the country, the technique used in the beating, ginning and shelling grains which is still very rudimentary and tedious, as well as the low productivity in the processing of food products. Furthermore, the traditional methods and the conditions applied in the primary processing of food crops do not guarantee the quality required to store the processed goods for a long time, and to provide the rapidly growing urban centres with food.

However, there is real potential for technological improvement and the possibility of upgrading agricultural products, such as establishing more efficient harvest treatment procedures, reducing storage loss, ensuring higher productivity and efficiency in food processing technology, and reducing the problems encountered in the marketing of products. But these opportunities have not yet been fully exploited. And another aspect of the study is unfortunately still with research stations which have not been able to adapt themselves to the needs of their potential users. This situation is due to the absence of a technology transfer programme that is well adapted to rural communities.

Exploitation of this potential will lead to increased revenue and better living conditions in rural areas.

The co-ordination office of PADSA based in the premises of the Ministry of Rural Development reinforces Research-Development capacity of Benin in post-harvest operations. This is being executed by INRAB, which ensures technology transfer in two phases: (i) Research-Development in post-harvest technology through its Food and Agricultural Technology project; (ii) technology transfer and marketing assistance to be realised by CARDER.

With regard to technical solutions that have been successful in other countries, their performance will be confirmed under Beninese conditions before being extended.

On the short term, attention will be given to "root and tuber" and "grain" crops, but some actions that have already been undertaken, especially by ITTA (the extraction of oil from groundnut, Karite and palm kernel etc.) and by the National Post-Harvest division (construction of maize granaries and storage facilities) will be pursued. The analysis of related activities may be done during Seminars/Workshops using the collaborative method that will involve all interested parties: professional representatives and organisations (producers, processors, traders) development partners (Media, Researchers, NGOs) equipment manufacturers etc.

Socio-economic constraints should be put into consideration right from conception stage of alternative technologies. Past experience has shown that the conditions for accepting or rejecting innovations are as much, if not more socio-economic as technical. The different activities should be co-ordinated by the technical co-ordination team (ECT) of the Research-Development programme. The fine-tuning and testing of the technical solution in the actual setting will be carried out by the LTA team. Apart from this, the latter will participate in and support, with the assistance of the LESR (for the analysis of socio-economic problems) the extension programme to be handled by CARDER.

The first phase of the project (1997-1998) will focus on the analyses and collection of facts on some related activities, carrying out tests on technologies that have already proved successful in other countries in the actual setting, identification and pursuit of Research-Development actions related to the conceptualisation of new technical solutions. The second phase will further focus on monitoring/evaluation activities and fine-tuning the innovative extension programmes that were created during the first phase, upgrading results and assigning the agency to new activities or other related activities.

Some specific studies may be handled by such institutions as the FSA and DANA, NGOs, or even local Research firms. Thus for example, the agency may assign FSA to handle the technical study on the performance of clay granaries (infestation level, changes in temperature and humidity etc.), and the aspect dealing with mycotoxines in dried products for the same study may be assigned to DANA.

R-D activities will be realised in close co-operation with the Regional Research Centre, which should expect further reinforcement of its expertise in food technology in the next few years. The project will develop close working relations with the agency for Applied Research in Actual Setting (RAMR) financed by the Netherlands, one of the technical assistants of which will be a Food Processing Specialist, and will be based in the Niaouli Centre.