Tropentag, September 20 - 22, 2017 in Bonn "Future Agriculture: Social-ecological transitions and bio-cultural shifts"

Put Agricultural Research into Use to Accelerate the Impact on Income and Productivity for Farmers (Example Benin)

¹Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Program Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector, Germany
²Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), Knowledge Management Unit, Benin

Abstract

The linkage of results delivered by research institutes of tropical agriculture to the implementation activities of development agencies in order to address development goals such as food security more efficiently is getting closer. In Benin, the GIZ programme “Green Innovation Centre for Agriculture and Food Sector (GIAE)” selected innovations which were developed and validated by AfricaRice, a leading pan-African rice research organisation, and its national partners. The innovations include the ASI Thresher, GEM parboiling, mechanical weeders, enhanced power tiller, reaper harvester, transplanter, manual seeder, rice milling unit and rice husk briquetting machine amongst others.

Furthermore, the cultivation of the new rice variety ORILUX 6 bred by AfricaRice, is also successfully promoted by GIAE as this variety has a high consumer oriented quality like the flavor, is drought resistant, increases yield and has high breaking resistance during processing. The implementation and scaling out of those innovations is contributing to all five general objectives defined by GIAE such as increasing rice productivity and farmers' income, enhancing quality and adding value to rice and rice by-products.

Keywords: Benin, cooperation, innovations, rice

Contact Address: Andrea Wilhelmi-Somé, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Program Green Innovation Centers for the Agriculture and Food Sector, Friedrich Ebert Allee 136, 53113 Bonn, Germany, e-mail: andrea.wilhelmi-somegiz.de