This text is part of the special edition Solidarité internationale
In Benin, SUCO is leading several projects on the fronts of resilience to climate change and the establishment of reliable food systems. The international cooperation organization, founded in Montreal in 1961, also has the mission of strengthening the leadership of women in the West African countries where it operates.
In 2021, SUCO traveled to the Collines department in central Benin. “It’s the breadbasket of the country,” explains Geneviève Talbot, program manager for the organization’s Africa division. Millet, groundnuts, rice, corn, cassava are grown there… This region feeds the population. But the quality of the soil is deteriorating, she continues, explaining that Benin is a cotton-producing country, and that it is one of the crops requiring the most chemical inputs.
In addition, the practice of slash-and-burn agriculture and the production of charcoal are leading to rapid deforestation: in the Collines region, nearly 25% of the forest cover has been lost since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch. All of this also has consequences for waterways, as climate change is already causing a decrease in precipitation. “Changes in rainfall and temperature extremes mean that agricultural producers no longer know when to plant and when to harvest,” summarizes Ms.me Talbot.
Organic inputs
With their local partner, the Association for the fight for integrated development and for the protection of the environment (ALDIPE), SUCO has supported around sixty market gardeners in the commune of Dassa, the majority of whom are women, in the adoption of agroecological practices to restore ecosystems. “In control fields, we planted maize without chemical inputs: we used local legumes, such as mucuna and pigeon peas, as organic inputs,” says Christelle Ouattara, who represents SUCO in Benin. We have also highlighted the manufacture and use of urea as a fertilizer”, all with the aim of enriching the soil with nitrogen.
“We wanted producers to see the difference in production and then be able to make informed decisions in their practices,” says Ms.me Ouattara. The villagers have noticed better productivity: the soil has taken on a darker color, it is gaining in fertility and is home to more biodiversity. »
To guarantee the long-term maintenance of this approach, the leaders of the project have trained “environmental relays”, mainly women, who have been further trained and who will act as references for producers, as well as speakers in schools. .
Difficult access to land
Because making women agents of change is central to SUCO’s mission. “We always support women’s organizations that are already working there,” says Geneviève Talbot, who coordinates the initiatives from Montreal. In Benin, women have limited access to land: they cannot be owners and therefore depend on their husband, father or brother.
“Men have cash crops, cotton, for example, which bring in more money. The women have the market garden crops, which help to feed the family”, she underlines, adding that they recover the land which the men do not want to use, which are less arable or located in places more difficult to access.
“What’s more, they have less access to labour; working the land is demanding, but women’s human resource needs will come after that of cash crops. »
SUCO and ALDIPE are therefore working to strengthen the capacity of women to produce and market their crops so that they gain credibility within their community and have more influence in decision-making. “To counter the issues of access to land, our partner, ALDIPE, buys land which becomes collective land and whose access is guaranteed to women by the organization”, indicates Ms.me Talbot.
This year, SUCO also embarked on a global citizenship education project in the Zou region of Benin. The organization wants to form school committees for young girls to fight against gender-based violence. Further south, in the Lokossa region, criss-crossed by a network of lakes and lagoons, another project is devoted to women who smoke fish. SUCO hopes to help them improve their smoking techniques to make them less harmful to their health and the environment.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the To have to, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of To have to did not take part.