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Ph:DR: Gaston Cossi Dossouhoui, Beninese Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock
The city of Diamniadio, near Dakar in Senegal, hosted, from January 25 to 27, 2023, the Dakar 2 summit held under the theme “Feeding Africa: Food Sovereignty and Resilience”. Benin was represented there by its Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. Gaston Cossi DOSSOUHOUI went to plead in favor of “Destination Benin” in order to fill the financing gap of the Government’s Action Program, PAG 2, in its agricultural component.
Four main objectives were pursued by the summit. And on arrival, the declaration of Dakar 2 concluded that the meetings were a resounding success. In the sense that the said declaration welcomed “the intentions of up to 10 billion dollars by the AfDB Group and an additional 20 billion dollars by several other partners to support the transformation of the agricultural sector in Africa through the implementation of the national compacts for food and agriculture”.
In this collective African ambition, Benin has distinguished itself by its concept of “Destination Benin”. Indeed, the presentation, during the summit, of the Beninese Minister in charge of agriculture, livestock and fisheries aimed to attract potential investors to Benin as a destination in order to fill the financing gap of the PAG 2 in its agricultural component First, Gaston Cossi DOSSOUHOUI recalled the structural reforms and investments undertaken by the Government since 2016 in the agricultural sector as well as the results obtained, in this case, the performances recorded at the level of the all agricultural sectors. He also insisted on the consequences of the various exogenous shocks (Covid-19, Russian-Ukrainian war, insecurity in the Sahel) on food and nutritional security in his country. Thus, despite the Government’s efforts, he pointed out, 26% of households are food insecure, including 1.9% in severe insecurity; the rates of coverage of the needs of the population in meat (all species combined), in eggs, milk and derivatives are respectively 42.60%; 37.51% and 14.75% in 2021.
Faced with this situation and with the dual objective of meeting the food needs of the country but also of the sub-region, Gaston Cossi DOSSOUHOUI insisted on the fact that Benin aims, by 2026, to produce an additional 400,000 tonnes of maize, 1.5 million tons of cassava; 300,000 tonnes of market garden products; 150,000 tons of meat of all species and 5,000 tons of fish. To achieve this, the Minister of Benin cited the implementation of hydro-agricultural developments with total water control; the construction of aquaculture facilities; the use of certified and climate-smart seeds of good quality by producers; the sedentarization of the breeding of large ruminants; placement of fertilizers and other plant, animal and fishery inputs; the use of modern production and processing materials and equipment; facilitating access to technological innovations. “The effective implementation of these actions requires approximately 386 billion FCFA, of which 86 billion has already been mobilized. There is therefore a financing gap of 300 billion FCFA (491 million USD). I therefore invite TFPs and the private sector to seize investment opportunities in Benin”, concluded Gaston Cossi DOSSOUHOUI.
And no doubt, the presentation of the Minister of Benin hit the mark. In particular on the part of France and the European Union, which have shown their eagerness to conclude an Agreement for the financing of projects in Benin.
Gaston Cossi DOSSOUHOUI also made several meetings during the summit to make his participation very useful to Benin and its agriculture. The Dakar 2 summit intends to submit its declaration to the February 2023 African Union summit for consideration. (Source : APO Group)
