ABSTRACT
Performance of the agricultural sector in Benin is positively
correlated with the performance of the cotton. Indeed, cotton is the main cash
crop in Benin and employs a large majority of agricultural workers. But the
strong desire of producers to invest in the cultivation of cotton faces
significant problems of poor organization and management of the sector (such as
cotton campaign 2006-2007). These problems negatively affect not only the
income of peasants but also the resources of the state. In order to increase
the level of income, several agricultural development policies have been
developed as promotion of agricultural credit (through microfinance), but most
of these policies to promote agricultural credits have failed.
In addition, rural producers try to manage or reverse the
downward trend of their farm income through implementation of various
strategies. An increase in farm incomes means an increase in capacity of
financing the activities of agricultural production. The results of this
survey, through analysis of the strategies developed by rural producers to
finance their agricultural activities, allow better preparation of future
agricultural development policies oriented towards rural producers, by taking
into account its endogenous strategies.
To this end, four goals were specified:
- evaluate the annual agricultural income of rural producers of
the town;
- determine the annual agricultural income used to finance
agricultural activities;
- identify other funding strategies of agricultural activities
developed by rural producers; - identify all constraints to finance
agricultural activities in the municipality.
The municipality of Gogounou, located in the department of
Alibori, is the place of study chosen in view of the partnership between this
municipality and the University of Parakou sponsored by the NPT. The aim of
this partnership is to promote local development of the department of
Alibori.
The data collected were used to estimate the average annual
agricultural income of rural producers amounting to 619,720 CFA francs. This
income is relatively low compared to expense related to the exercise of
different agricultural production activities namely agriculture, animal
husbandry and food processing. So, in order to remedy the weakness of their
income and their investment capacity, rural producers have developed several
strategies. But, the results of independent-sample T-test and one-way ANOVA
show that average farm incomes means do not vary in accordance with sex (t =
-0,504 p = 0,615), or activities (F = 0,684 p=0,506), or level of
education(F=1,193 p=0,306).
But there is a relationship between the average of annual farm
income reinvest in agricultural
production activities and sex at the 1% (t
=3,883 p =0,00). The average reinvested by men
stood at 201.79% against 37.67% for women. Women reinvest more
of their incomes in the agricultural processing food than men in agriculture or
animal husbandry. Transformation of agricultural products requires enormous
expenditures contrary to practice of agriculture and breeding where the use of
different strategies can significantly reduce investment.
Plenty of strategies are used by rural producers to finance
agricultural production activities. The short-term strategies developed by
rural producers, seek the satisfaction of one-time funding such as remuneration
of labour, payments of vaccination ... pledges, small loans of
money, buying on credit, purchasing in black market, or
the use of family workforce in cultivation belong to this category of
the first strategy. Others producers sell off the product of their harvest.
Belonging to an association or group,
diversification of activities, saving up by practicing
breeding, the practices of speculation on crops or livestock are
the main medium and longterm strategies. Producers who adopt these strategies
aim to increase their total income in order to be able to face the huge charges
related to various agricultural activities.
Among these two categories of strategies, strategies indirect
and direct financing strategies can be distinguished.
Rural producers face several constraints that hamper severely
the development of their various agricultural production activities. The
ranking of constraints vary according to group activities. These funding
constraints may be direct or indirect. Thus the shortage of agricultural
inputs, the long delay in the payment of debt "Cotton" and the bad condition of
roads are the major level of farmers. The main funding listed by breeder are in
order of importance lack of water retention, lack of grazing areas and the poor
condition of roads. Regarding the activities of agro-food processing, lack of
hydraulic pump, insufficient manpower, and lack of information on sources of
financing are the most significant funding. The three major listed by each
producer category represent the most important among the many constraints that
we have identified during the study.
Taking into account those results, we offered several
suggestions, the most important, according to the specific target of the study
are:
> Target I:
- Mechanization of agriculture;
- Creation of conditions which will promote increase of
investment in agricultural activities in order to increase agricultural
productivity;
- Increase in the investments in the agricultural sector by all
the actors implied in this sector.
> Target II:
- Reduction of investment in property and increasing the share of
farm income reinvested in the agricultural production by farmers and ranchers.
This should allow term increase in farm incomes of the latter.
> Target III:
- Take into account the funding strategies of agricultural
activities developed by rural producers in the formulation of development
policies or initiatives aimed at reducing poverty.
> Target IV:
- lift or resolve the major constraint listed by each group of
producer. That will be an important step in reducing poverty in rural areas.
These funding constraints both direct and indirect strongly hamper the
development of production activities in the municipality of Gogounou.
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