Contribution of the PDRT to marketing cassava and cassava products in Benin COMMUNICATION PRESENTED BY Eric Patric TETE

1. Regional Cassava Processing and Marketing InitiativeFIRST REGIONAL MEETING OF IFAD ROOTS & TUBERS PROJECTS14-16 November 2007Hotel Somatel - Douala, Cameroon

2. Contribution of the PDRT to marketing cassava and cassava products in Benin COMMUNICATION PRESENTED BY Eric Patric TETEGAN Officer in Charge of the Primary Processing and Marketing Component Roots and Tubers Development Programme (PDRT) Parakou REPUBLIC OF BENIN

3. Introduction 2.   Planned activities 3.Results 4. Constraints 5. Future outlook

4. Introduction • The marketing of cassava and its products is still poorly organized and individual; • Gari: • The main product marketed (about 40% of production) – followed by chips, lafun, starch, flour and alcohol; • Consumption: 33 kg/year/child and 87 kg/year/adult; • Marketing: controlled by private operators; • Prices: vary according to national and regional circumstances and harvests of cereals (maize) and other R&Ts (yam).

5. Introduction • Collection markets, assembly markets and distribution markets can be distinguished, organized around three major poles: South, Centre and North. • The South provides more than 75% of national cassava and cassava product supplies (assembly centres or collection markets); • The Centre provides about 20% of national cassava and cassava product supplies (export zone toward the south and north); • The North is a zone re-exporting products from the Centre to the Sahel and the north of Nigeria. • Other than chips for human consumption, where the same trends as for gari are observed, marketing of cassava products, especially cassava flour, is starting to take off.

6. Planned activities • Carrying out two market studies (national and African); • Carrying out a national survey of food consumption; • Training members of inter-village marketing associations (AIVCs) and processor women’s groups (GTs) in keeping operating accounts and drawing up business plans; • Encouraging the creation of gari exchanges; • Promoting the use of cassava flour and the manufacture of flours (of cassava and cassava-wheat); • Organizing AIVCs in relation to existing marketing channels; • Collecting and disseminating information on the prices of cassava products; • Supporting AIVCs in organizing primary collection; • Facilitating the establishment of partnership contracts between AIVCs and users of R&T products; • Organizing exchange visits for GTs and AIVCs.

7. Results (between 2002 and 2007) • Two market studies carried out, one at the national level, the other at the African level; • A national survey on the consumption of R&Ts and their products carried out; • An action plan for marketing cassava drawn up; • 19 AIVCs created and boosted for primary collection, storage and resale of products; • 4 gari exchanges created and established; • A national register of traders in cassava products drawn up; • Various actors put in contact with each other (processors/ traders/users of cassava products).

8. Results (between 2002 and 2007) • Tasting sessions organized and agricultural fairs attended with a view to making cassava products better known to the public; • Collaboration with the National Office for Food Security Support in collecting market information (2002-2006); • Several radio broadcasts made on topics concerning the marketing of cassava and its products; • 15 warehouses and 10 storehouses built alongside main roads and inside a market; • 70 villages with high cassava production opened up by constructing 109 km of rural service roads.

9. Private actors and their roles • Women processors: sell the various products they have made or bought to traders or consumers; • Traders (primary collectors, dealers, wholesalers, retailers): generally buy from producers or middlemen and resell either to other middlemen or to end-users; • Transporters: transport products from where they are made or collected to markets; • Storekeepers:ensure the handling and safekeeping of the products stored within warehouses and storehouses. • Types of collaboration with the PDRT • Training of traders in conservation/storage and management techniques; • Supply of information to traders on prices and market opportunities; • Construction of storehouses and marketing warehouses.

10. Lessons learnt • Marketing is still a problem because of: • Poor grasp of statistics, • Lack of organization of actors, • Major price fluctuations, • Difficulties in locating and disseminating market information; • The development of a pipeline approach is still a priority.

11. Difficulties encountered • Poor organization of actors and therefore a poorly integrated chain; • Poor grasp of supply and demand by the actors; • Major price instability partly because of the difficulty of making a market information system accessible to the wider public; • Little product promotion; • Little respect for hygiene and quality standards; • Poor access to financial resources; • Inaccessibility of the major production zones.

12. Challenges • Building of cassava traders’ capacities for organization and management in order to develop their professionalism; • Persuasion of government authorities to create an incentivizing macroeconomic environment; • Establishment of an information system enabling the actors in the sector to take greater advantage of market opportunities; • Refocusing of the activities of gari exchanges towards providing services (Regional Cassava Processing and Marketing Initiative – IRTCM); • Updating of traders’ range of cassava and its products;

13. Activities to be carried out • Supporting wrap-up of studies of the European, African and Benin frontier markets (IRTCM); • Training PDRT staff and operators in implementation of marketing plans and strategies (IRTCM); • Organizing promotion campaigns (IRTCM); • Boosting traders’ capacities for using contracts in transactions(IRTCM); • Building awareness/Training traders regarding quality standards and traceability (IRTCM).

14. Activities to be carried out • Boosting traders’ capacities to manage their activities; • Lobbying of government authorities for cassava flour to be incorporated into wheat flour; • Collaborating in establishing a local-level information system (IRTCM); • Boosting the capacities of gari exchanges (IRTCM); • Updating registers of existing traders; • Organizing meetings, boosting the capacities of target groups and making television spots on cossette drying (IRTCM); • Organizing tasting sessions for R&T products (IRTCM); • Building the awareness and boosting the capacities of the various actors concerning quality standards and traceability; • Putting traders in contact with microfinance institutions (including NGOs).