Benin: Why some harvests never reach the table
COTONOU: In Benin poor roads and lack of markets compound problems faced by farmers, who harvested less in 2008 than in recent years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Producers harvested some six million metric tons of food in 2008 - nearly 200,000 metric tons less than in 2007 and some one million metric tons less than in 2005, according to the government.
But infrastructure is as critical to food security as tonnage, Benin farmers and agriculture experts say.
“Everyone is focused on production, but there is so much else that needs to be reformed,” said Jean Prosper Koyo, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) representative for Benin.
