COTONOU, 2 February 2009 (IRIN) - 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 Organization (FAO) representative for Benin.

Roads

A manioc farmer, Adam Mamoudou, said: "It is hard to get products out of our village to the market [30km away] because of the awful state of roads." He lives in Banikoara, 600km north of the economic capital Cotonou. "It takes me three hours on bicycle or one hour by car…We are stuck."

In its March 2008 national food security plan for Benin, FAO noted that the majority of Benin's agricultural production zones become inaccessible during the rainy season. "Interventions are needed if we want to assure food security [in these areas] and wipe out poverty."

Almost 40 percent of under-five children studied by the Benin government in 2006 had stunted growth and 23 percent were underweight. The UN is working with the government to finalise new data on food security.

Forty-two of Benin's 77 communes, home to about three million residents, lack market-worthy roads, according to FAO.

As a part a US$2-billion agricultural revitalisation project launched in 2008, the government has targeted more than 2,000km of rural paths for repair and identified cultivable areas that need new roads.

The Minister of Agriculture, Roger Dovonou, told IRIN planned road renovations are scheduled to be completed by 2015.

Markets

Even when food makes it to the market, regional commerce is poorly regulated and can be disadvantageous to farmers, said FAO's Koyo. "The largest market for producers from Benin and [neighbouring] Nigeria is informal."

"The naira [Nigerian currency] is not convertible in Benin and poses problems during sales," Koyo said. "The entire market needs to be organised differently to assure [Benin] producers a fair market for their goods."

The market is not much better within Benin, he said. One of the biggest purchasers of food is the government's food security agency known as ONASA, which sets purchasing prices without negotiating with farmers, Koyo told IRIN.

He added that under this system, farmers did not benefit from the global increase in food prices starting in 2005. "It is like the serpent eating its tail," he said.

"On the one hand, the state spends millions to help farmers, but on the other hand, producers do not benefit from international price [rises] because the government has fixed too-low prices," he added.

In addition to improving markets and market access, the government intends to modernise agricultural equipment, help organise producer groups to improve their bargaining power and create an international food price monitoring system, according to the text of its agriculture reform project.

The reforms would also include investing in products other than cotton, the main export and largest cash crop. In 2006, production of cotton had slumped due in part to cricket infestation and an increase in production costs.

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