Analyse des determinants de l’acces au financement des producteurs d’anacarde dans la commune de Djidja au centre-Benin

L’objectif de cet article est d’analyser les déterminants de l’accès au financement pour les producteurs d’anacarde de la commune de Djidja au  Centre du Bénin. A cet effet, les données ont été collectées auprès de 160 producteurs répartis dans quatre arrondissements de la commune de  Djidja. Ces données ont été soumises à une analyse de contenu appuyée par des statistiques descriptives, le test de concordance de Kendall et une  régression logistique. Les résultats obtenus ont montré que les facteurs qui influencent l’obtention de crédits sont entre autres la taille de  l’exploitation, le revenu, l’âge et le niveau d’éducation. Par ailleurs, la crédibilité acquise par les exploitants agricoles de par leur adhésion à des  groupements ou associations de production constitue un atout pour l’accès au crédit. La garantie financière que représente l’épargne constitue une  preuve de la capacité de solvabilité et une base de définition du seuil du montant du prêt à accorder à ce producteur. La prise en compte de nos  résultats aidera dans la recherche des solutions innovantes permettant de faire du crédit agricole une activité rentable pour les institutions  financières et favorable au développement de l’agriculture et des chaînes de valeur agricoles dont l’anacarde.   English title: Analysis of the determinants of access to financing for cashew nut producers in the commune of Djidja in central Benin The objective of this article is to analyze the determinants of access to finance for cashew nut producers in the commune of Djidja in southern  Benin. To this end, data was collected from 160 producers in four districts of the commune of Djidja in central Benin. These data were subjected to a  content analysis supported by descriptive statistics, Kendall’s concordance test and logistic regression. The results showed that the factors that  influence the obtaining of credit are, among others, the size of the farm, income, age and level of education. In addition, the credibility acquired by  farmers through their membership in production groups or associations is an asset for accessing credit. The financial guarantee represented by  savings constitutes proof of solvency and a basis for defining the threshold for the amount of the loan to be granted to this producer. Taking our  results into account will help in the search for innovative solutions that will make agricultural credit a profitable activity for financial institutions and  favorable to the development of agriculture and agricultural value chains, including cashew nuts

Drivers of adoption and impacts of the improved GEM parboiling system for rice value chain upgrading on livelihood of women rice parboilers in Benin

Food insecurity and child malnutrition remain persistent problems in sub-Saharan Africa. Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world’s population. However, white rice is poor in micronutrients and records higher glycemic values compared to parboiled rice. An improved parboiling system called “Grain quality enhancer, Energy-efficient and durable Material” (GEM in short) allows the processing of quality rice with better physical and nutritional properties compared to traditional systems. This paper assessed the drivers and impact of the adoption of the GEM system on women’s livelihoods. A total of 822 rice women parboilers were randomly sampled and interviewed in Benin, in regions where the GEM system was introduced. We employed the endogenous switching regression model (ESR) to assess the impact of the GEM system. We found evidence that adoption of the GEM system increased women parboilers’ rice output rate (milling return), income and food security and reduced poverty. The impact of the GEM system is estimated at 14.4 kg of milled rice per 100 kg of paddy (21%), equivalent to US$ 7.3 of additional income (18%). A significantly lower poverty rate of 26% was found among households due to the adoption of the GEM system. These results are supported by women’s perceptions that the output rate, better nutritional value and reduction of broken rice during milling are major advantages of the improved parboiling system. Policy actions such as training of local fabricators and credit options are required for out-scaling and sustainability of the improved parboiling system

Farmer uncertainty and demand for rice varietal identity information: DNA fingerprinting of smallholder rice varieties in Côte d’Ivoire

Information asymmetry is a key challenge facing farmers in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly regarding the identity and quality of crop varieties and other agricultural inputs. In this research, we contribute to a recent economics literature that uses advances in DNA fingerprinting technology and affordability to directly measure the identity of crop varieties, allowing this variable to be compared with farmers’ beliefs about the varieties that they cultivate. In our study, we additionally utilize a novel approach in which we elicit the demand of rice farmers in central Côte d’Ivoire for information about the variety they cultivate as well as their own beliefs about how sure they are of the variety’s identity. We connect our DNA fingerprinting analysis of producer seed samples to survey questions related to producer beliefs and demand, and find that the majority of the farmers in our dataset are not certain about the identity of the variety they cultivate. We further find that around 98 percent of producers in our dataset are willing to pay to obtain the results of DNA fingerprinting analysis of the variety they currently cultivate, from a minimum of around $0.20 to a maximum of ~$36 USD

Transforming Agrifood Systems in West and Central Africa Initiative (TAFS-WCA): Baseline report of the TAFS-WCA

This report presents the baseline survey of the Transforming Agrifood Systems in West and Central Africa initiative (TAFS-WCA) in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. Five areas in Cote d'Ivoire and four areas in Ghana were surveyed. Data was collected using a smart tablet with the CSPro application. A total of 1207 and 1200 actors were surveyed during the baseline data collection in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, respectively. Actors involved in the baseline data collection are producers of rice, maize, beans, yams, cassava, banana, cocoa, African vegetables, inputs dealer, traders, processors and service providers. All analyses in this paper were carried out using the STATA 16 statistical software. Among the population of producers, 27.05% (651) are rice producers, 11.97% (288) are maize producers, 4.86% (117) are beans producers, 9.89% (238) are yams producers, 10.93% (263) are cassava producers, 2.49% (60) are sweet potatoes producers, 4.11% (99) are banana producers, 9.18% (221) are cocoa producers, 4.15% (100) are African vegetables producers, 1.04% (25) inputs dealer, 7.23% (174) are traders, 2.16% (52) are processors and 4.61% (111) are service providers. The average age of rice farmers is 46 years old and ranges from 18 to 85 years old, and the average household size is 8 people. About 65.50% of actors are male and 84.34% are married. In addition, 52% of the actors have received formal education and 83.42% have crop production has main activity. Moreover, 53 % of producers produce during the rainy season, 13% during the dry season and 34% during both seasons. It should also be noted that in the face of climate change, 26% of producers have access to information on weather forecasts (for today, 24 hours and/or next 2-3 days), 20% to forecasts of extreme events (drought, flood, strong wind, etc.), and 19% to information on seasonal forecasts (weather for the following 2-3 months). In relation to food security and the poverty index, preliminary results showed that the vast majority of farmers households in both countries have an acceptable level of dietary diversity, meal frequency and nutritional importance of the food groups consumed; and the poverty index of the population remains was 48%

E-registration and spatial referencing and tracking of farmers in three countries: Case study of Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire

This report presents a dataset of the e-registration of farmers in Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire for assessing the adoption of innovations and the diffusion of new technologies. Data were collected from actors after a census conducted in three steps. In the first step, main crops production regions and value chain actors were identified. In the second step, we updated the list of actors based on membership of actors’ associations. In third step, we did the census of all individual actors and geo-localized all farmers’ fields and villages using GPS device. Data were collected for the 2022 growing seasons and the dataset contains 15,285 observations (5,041 in Cote d’Ivoire; 5,039 in Ghana and 5,205 in Nigeria) with 159 variables divided into six sections: (i) preliminary information on the respondents; (ii) socio-economic characteristics; (iii) information on the rice plots; (iv) knowledge, use and access to rice varieties; (v) knowledge, use and access to agricultural equipment and methods; and (vi) information on post harvest activities. Seven categories of actors were identified: seed producers (542), crops producers (13,145), parboilers (289), millers (173), traders (1,323) and service providers (442). On average, a farmers grow two crops. The main crops of farmers are rice (4,087) following by maize (1,782), cassava (1,595), cocoa (1,256) and beans (1,240). The dataset is valuable for the diffusion at large scale of improved technologies and an effective monitoring of the dissemination. Data can be used by scientists to have better understanding of crops value chains, production systems, the level of knowledge, accessibility and adoption of improved rice varieties and agricultural technologies, for further research regarding rice value chain development, technologies testing and socioeconomics study of rice value chain actors and others crops such as maize, cassava, cocoa, et beans. Because of the large number of observations (15,285 actors), data can be used as sampling frame for further experiment or surveys based on random samples. Moreover, the dataset has the potential of generating descriptive statistics at the most disaggregated level of administrative units or villages for different equipment, methods and varieties adopted by gender and country

Innovations scaling and assessment: Spatial referencing and tracking of farmers in Democratic Republic of the Congo

This report presents a dataset of the e-registration of actors in the agricultural production and value chains in Democratic Republic of the Congo for assessing the adoption of innovations and the diffusion of new technologies. Data was collected after a census conducted in three steps. In the first step, main crops production regions and value chain actors were identified. In the second step, we updated the list of actors based on membership of actors’ associations. In the laststep, we did the census of all individual actors and geo-localized all farmers’ fields and villages using GPS device. Data were collected for the 2022 growing seasons and the dataset contains 3,550 observations with 159 variables divided into six sections: (i) preliminary information on the respondents; (ii) socio-economic characteristics; (iii) information on the rice plots; (iv) knowledge, use and access to rice varieties; (v) knowledge, use and access to agricultural equipment and methods; and (vi) information on post-harvest activities. Six categories of actors were identified: seed producers (1,565), crops producers (1,539), parboilers (2), millers (39), traders (606) and service providers (98). On average, a farmer grows two crops. The main crops of farmers are beans (1,017) followed by maize (919), potato (359), cassava (325), rice (284) and soybean (203). The dataset is valuable for the diffusion of a large scale of improved technologies and effective monitoring of the dissemination. Data can be used by scientists to have better understanding of crops value chains, production systems, the level of knowledge, accessibility and adoption of improved rice varieties and agricultural technologies, for further research regarding rice value chain development, technologies testing and socioeconomics studies of rice value chain actors and others crops such as maize, cassava, soybeans, sweet potato, banana and beans. Because of the large number of observations (3,550 actors), data can be used as sampling frame for further experiments or surveys based on random samples. Moreover, the dataset has the potential of generating descriptive statistics at the most disaggregated level of administrative units or villages for different equipment, methods and varieties adopted by gender and country

Scaling of innovations: E-registration and spatial referencing of farmers in Rwanda

This report presents a dataset of the e-registration of farmers in Burundi for assessing the adoption of innovations and the diffusion of new technologies. Data was collected from actors after a census conducted in three steps. First, main crops production regions and value chain actors were identified. In the second step, the list of actors was updated based on membership of their associations. Finally, a census of all individual actors was conducted as well as the geo localization of all farmers’ fields and villages using GPS device. Data were collected for the 2022 growing seasons and the dataset contains 1,751 observations with 159 variables divided into six sections: (i) preliminary information on the respondents; (ii) socio-economic characteristics; (iii) information on the rice plots; (iv) knowledge, use and access to rice varieties; (v) knowledge, use and access to agricultural equipment and methods; and (vi) information on post-harvest activities. Five categories of actors were identified: seed producers (127), crops producers (1,394), millers (35), traders (231) and service providers (8). On average, a farmer grew three crops. The main crops of farmers were rice (745) followed by cassava (254), banana (202), potato (181) and beans (131). The dataset is valuable for the diffusion at large scale of improved technologies and an effective monitoring of the dissemination. Data can be used by scientists to have better understanding of crops value chains, production systems, the level of knowledge, accessibility and adoption of improved rice varieties and agricultural technologies, for further research in the field of rice value chain development, technologies testing and socioeconomic studies of rice value chain actors and other crops such as cassava, banana, potato, and beans. Because of the large number of observations (1,751 actors), data can be used as sampling frame for further experiments or surveys based on random samples. Moreover, the dataset has the potential of generating descriptive statistics at the most disaggregated level of administrative units or villages for different equipment, methods and varieties adopted by gender and country

Value chain and Multicrop baseline of TAFS-WCA: Case of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

This report presents the results of the baseline survey of the Transforming Agrifood Systems in West and Central Africa (TAFS-WCA) initiative in DRC. Three regions of DRC were surveyed. Data were collected using a smart tablet with the CSPro application. A total of 1,024 actors in agricultural production and value chain were surveyed during the baseline data collection in DRC. Actors involved in the baseline data collection are producers of rice, maize, soybean, beans, cassava, sweet potato, inputs dealer, traders, processors and service providers. All data analyses were carried out with the STATA 16 software. Among the actors interviewed, 13.87% (142) are rice producers, 20.02% (205) maize producers, 8.01% (82) soybean producers, 10.53% (200) bean producers, 13.57% (139) cassava producers, 10.66% (61) sweet potato producers, 0.29% (3) inputs dealer, 14.45% (148) traders, 1.27% (13) processors and 2.64% (27) service providers. The average age of actors is 41 years old and ranges from 17 to 79 years old, and the average household size is 7 persons. About 60% of actors are male and 82% are married. In addition, 70% of the actors have received formal education and 79% have crop production has main activity. Moreover, 76 % of producers produce during the rainy season, 5% during dry season while 19% in both seasons.With regard to climate change information’s, about 2.5% of producers have access to forecasts of water level of dams and rivers and 1.32% to information to forecasts of pest or disease outbreak. In relation to food security and the poverty index, preliminary results show that the vast majority of actors have an acceptable level of dietary diversity, meal frequency and nutritional importance of the food groups consumed; and according to the poverty index, the rate of poor actors is 74%

Value chain and multi-crop baseline of the Transforming Agrifood Systems in West and Central Africa Initiative (TAFS-WCA): A case of Rwanda

This report presents the baseline survey of the Transforming Agrifood Systems in West and Central Africa (TAFS-WCA) initiative in Rwanda. Three regions of Rwanda were surveyed. Data were collected with smart tablets using the CSPro application. A total of 481 actors in agricultural production and value chain were surveyed during the baseline data collection in in Rwanda. These are mainly rice, maize, soybean, beans, cassava, sweet potato, banana, African vegetables, inputs dealers, traders, processors and service providers. All data analyses were carried out with the STATA 16 software. Out of the surveyed population, 16.84% (81) are rice farmers, 8.52% (41) maize producers, 8.52% (41) soybean growers, 12.68% (61) bean producers, 8.11% (39) cassava growers, 8.32% (40) sweet potato farmers, 8.32% (40) banana producers, 12.47% (60) African vegetables growers, 4.16% (20) input dealers, 9.15% (44) traders, 1.25% (6) processors and 1.66% (8) service providers. The age of rice farmers in the country ranges from 19 to 81 years with a mean age of 46 years. The average household size of actors is 5 people and about 57% of them are male and 88% are married. In addition, 92% of the actors have received formal education and 81% has crop production as main occupation. Moreover, 35 % of producers grow crops during rainy season, 12% in dry season while 53% in both seasons. With regard to climate change information’s, about 33.75% of producers have access to pest or disease outbreak and 24.81% to information on seasonal forecasts (weather information for the coming 2-3 months). As far as food security and the poverty index are concerned, preliminary results showed that the vast majority of farmers’ households had an acceptable level of dietary diversity, meal frequency and nutritional importance of the food groups consumed; and the poverty index of the population was 69%