Republic of Benin agriculture Minister, Cossi Gaston Dossouhoui could not help but shed tears of joy as his country became the leading producer of cotton in West Africa Francophone country.
While Benin’s cotton sector – a major source of President Patrice Talon’s wealth– has benefited greatly from the country’s reforms, actors in other sectors are calling for more support.
Benin is still the leading cotton producer in West Africa, with more than 700,000tn harvested in the 2020to 2021 season. It has held this position since 2018 and intends to maintain it, aiming for a target of 800,000tn next season.
The applause and standing ovations that greeted the announcement by Republic of Benin President Patrice Talon of the country’s feet in cotton production in the region for the first time in five years, the minister, Dossouhoui was seen shedding tears at his seat.
The success,while reflecting the promise of President Patrice Talon’s efforts to develop agriculture, which represents 25% of GDP, employs 70% of the working population and provides 75% of the country’s export earnings.
But while cotton (53% of the country’s exports) has benefited greatly from these reforms, other sectors are struggling. This is a sign that the reforms aimed at modernising the country’s agricultural sector have not yet borne all their fruit.
The ranking by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report also forecasted that the Republic of Benin might retain the ranking position for the following year.
There has certainly been progress on one point: a boom in production including cashew nuts from 91,608tn in 2015 to 130,276tn in 2019), soya from 139,909tn in 2015 to 257,000tn in 2019, maize and rice, as well as market gardening from 633,86tn in 2015 to 706,346tn in 2019.
Pineapple production, after increasing sharply until 2014, will remain at around 350,000tn per year.
Prior to the ranking, the Republic of Benin was ranked third on the African continent behind Mali and Burkina Faso.
The leapfrogging progress perhaps irked Dossouhoui’s emotions that he had to shed some tears.
Other African nationals commended Dossouhoui for his rare passion to make an impact in his country through his job.
