USADF Signs Two Grants to Support Marginalized Groups in Benin

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PR Newswire | 07 May, 2010
The United States African Development Foundation (USADF) signed two grants to support marginalized groups in Benin. The grants will benefit the Association Communale des Producteurs de Pomme de Terre de Pehunco (ACPPT) and the Groupement de Femmes Transformatrices de Produits Agricoles de Kybéfanni (GFTPAK).

Speaking about the grants, USADF President Lloyd Pierson stated “USADF supports the most marginalized people in Africa and these two new grantees are some of the most marginalized in Benin. The grants will help finance their projects to increase productivity and incomes.”

ACPPT is an organization of potato producers in Pehunco Commune of the Atakora Department. The Organization’s 85 members, including 59 women, include resettled Béninese migrant workers from Ghana and natives of Pehunco Commune, which is located in the poorest department of Benin. Pehunco Commune farmers traditionally cultivated cotton and maize during the rainy season and did not engage in agricultural actvities during the long dry season. Agricultural migrant laborers who returned from Ghana, where they had worked in lowlands and learned the value of these areas for dry season agricultural production, initiated vegetable production activities to diversify income sources. Many specialized in potato production with technical support and input supply from the Programme de Développement des Racines et Tubercules (PDRT). However, since the end of the PDRT program, ACPPT has encountered a number of difficulties, including organizational capacity, access to quality production inputs, particularly seed potatoes, irrigation water management, and lack of appropriate storage facilities to facilitate marketing. As a result, productivity is low, and they are unable to defer sales when prices are low. The two year grant will finance office equipment, a storage facility, training, access to credit, and implementation of improved marketing strategies.

Located in Segbana Commune of the Alibori Department, GFTPAK is an association of twenty-one women who engage in small-scale peanut processing. The women see peanut oil production as a way to increase income, but they need to increase the productivity of their peanut processing activities. GFTPAK has been limited by inadequate stocks of raw materials and lack of a storage facility The women also hand shell and press the peanuts, which dramatically limits oil production. With this project, the association will increase its production of peanuts for oil extraction through the adoption of improved agricultural practices and increased production capacity. The two year grant will be used to purchase equipment, build an all-weather processing and storage area, expand working capital, and provide training in improved production techniques.

USADF began programming in Benin in 1986. Benin’s current portfolio stands at seventeen investment projects totaling $2.4 million.