CONTENTS | ANB-BIA HOMEPAGE | WEEKLY NEWS
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Benin |
DEVELOPMENT
The proverb goes something like this: «What woman want...God wants».
In
Benin, women in rural areas have had enough of being poor.
In several places
they’ve joined together to fight poverty
Benin is still nearly 70% rural. Of 6.3 million inhabitants (2002 statistics), more than half are women. They’re obviously important for the nation’s future. And yet, their situation is far from looking bright. Benin’s women are present at every level of the country’s food production chain — from the farm to cooking the food in the home. Yet they must be content with the leftovers. Men are the ones who count when it comes to talking about the nation’s development.
As in most African countries, woman in rural society are not entitled to inherit and can’t own land. If you want to get enough food, then you’ve got to have the land to grow it on. And — «a hungry person isn’t a free person».
If a country is to be able to achieve its long-term development, then there’s got to be enough food for everyone. Experts define food security as: «The means whereby a country or a region ensures that at any time there’s enough food for all the people, and that the nutritional value is adequate». Increasingly aware of their wretched condition, some women decided to take the bull by the horns.
Snails and mushrooms
Allada is a town situated forty kilometres north of Cotonou, Benin’s economic capital. Any traveller passing that way is taken aback by an army of women who’ve got fried snails for sale. The fact is, selling snails has become the main activity of women in that area. Such enterprise guarantees survival on a daily basis and it makes it possible for women to attain their true place in society. Mushrooms are grown and sold in the northern part of the country, but now breeding snails and marketing them have become part of income-generating activities in many parts of Benin.
All this is the result of a dynamic and effective co-operation between four local and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO)s; Benin’s International Centre for Integrated Eco-Development (CECODI); Belgium’s VECO; the Dutch Association for Development Assistance (SNV); Benin’s Centre for Long-Term development (CBDD).
In 1998, these NGOs, established and promoted the Unusual Items Of Food Industry (FRANC). Listed among those food items described as «unusual», came in first place snails and mushrooms, which have been known and consumed by the local population for ages. Even before the project got off the ground, during the appropriate seasons, snails and mushrooms had been collected in the countryside for the people’s own consumption or for sale.
Company managers
The FRANC project slowly but surely began to spread throughout the country. In the beginning it had as associate, the Centre for Regional Action for Rural Development (CARDER). CARDER had plenty of experience of working with the people, so was familiar with the realities of the situation. They advised that women should be brought into the project and should remain part of the follow-up of the project’s activities. Dangbo, in the valley of the River Ouémé (50 km from Cotonou), was pinpointed as an ideal spot for breeding snails. Even better, mushrooms could be grown in the same area. It was up to these «specialists» who had been trained on the job, to disseminate the knowledge obtained in their various localities and beyond.
Today, the results are there for all to see. The consumption of dishes containing edible mushrooms or snails has gone far beyond the traditional surroundings of rural households. They now figure on the menus of several up-market gastronomic restaurants in Benin’s towns. More than one hundred Benininese women have their own snail farms. Recently distributed breeding trays, incubators and water supply systems has made it possible for others to follow in their footsteps. Mushroom farmers have been receiving any number of requests for their produce, so they’ve been able to get the necessary financial help to build up their businesses.
The various NGOs have been evaluating the project, and are delighted with the way things are progressing. 2001-2005 is a consolidation phase, and the project has received financial help from the CBDD, and a grant-in-aid from the CECODI and the SNV. Thus, 847 million CFA francs (nearly 1.3 million euros) will be invested in Benin’s rural areas. This will give women a real chance to improve their living conditions.
But, why are only women profiting from such a project? The CECODI comes up with the answer: «Women know how to manage such a project. Men don’t. Traditionally, it’s women who gather the mushrooms in the fields. It’s women who know the difference between edible mushrooms and poisonousness mushrooms. It’s the same for snails. Another reason is connected with the availability of land for women. They don’t need much land so this gets around the problem of women being allowed to own land».
Anything from 3,000 to 5,000 women could be trained to take part in the mushroom-and-snail project — at least that’s the plan. Seeing the initial successes, there’s hope of developing and diversifying output. For example, why not dry the mushrooms or bottle them? Why not have canned snails? etc. Hopefully, preserved snails and mushrooms will one day feature on Benin’s supermarket shelves. If God...oops!.. sorry...if the women want it.