Briefing Paper

Policy and Institutional Landscape for Ecological Organic Agriculture in Benin

This Policy Brief has evaluated Benin’s current agricultural policies, strategies, plans and institutional frameworks and how they impact on EOA subsector development in the country. It is evident the Government of Benin aims at increasing agricultural production through the expanding of cultivation areas and improving yields of most food and cash crops. This involved setting up and using techniques and equipment that sometimes did not respect the environment. Various policy documents have been developed to revamp the economy through agriculture. Some of the provisions of these policies and strategy documents are not pro-organic or environmentally friendly. Thus, to achieve the goal of increasing agricultural production for food security without affecting the environment, strict provisions in policy and law must be made and enforced, this is despite having management plans and environmental assessments often included in projects. The Government support for agricultural R&D and of course in EOA has been low because most of the policymakers lack appreciation of its importance to sustainable agricultural productivity and economic development. Since some of the organic inputs may not be affordable to many farmers, the government should consider subsidizing organic inputs and make them available to farmers.