2023-04-21 01:41:47
In Benin’s agricultural program, soy is set up as one of the locomotive sectors. Production has made a spectacular leap in a few years and with every little problem, the government intervenes. It has just increased the purchase price per kilogram to help producers in difficulty.
On April 11, the Beninese head of state brought together the struggling National Union of Benin Soybean Producers. They still have 182,000 tonnes of unsold produce on their hands from last season and debts to be honoured.
The government immediately took two measures that day. The first, he raised the purchase price to producers, thus, the kilo of conventional soybeans went from 175 to 270 FCFA per kilogram and organic soybeans to 320 FCFA. The second measure: he decided to buy back all the unsold stock.
The next day, the government dispatched the Minister of Agriculture to the soybean production areas in the north, center and south of the country. They are 80,000 agricultural workers as producers in the sector. The Minister had to reassure the cotton growers and deny the rumors that are spreading that the government now favors soybeans. ” The war of the sectors will not take place, our sectors complement each other “, hammered the minister.
produce and transform
Still very marginal in the 1990s, soybean production increased from 2000 to 2018, from 5,000 to 22,000 tonnes. The last campaign increased production to 400,000 tonnes.
The Benin agricultural development program recommends “ produce in quantity and quality “. Production forecasts in the National Soybean Development Plan (PNDF-Soja) for 2026 is 600,000 tonnes. Beninese soybeans are exported to China, India and Canada, it is the top three, the quantities going to Europe are less significant. But Benin works for agro-industry, it has created an industrial zone of 1,600 hectares for processing industries ” The more we export our raw material, the more we develop the economy of others “, justifies the Beninese Minister of Agriculture, Gaston Dossouhoui.
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