Collaborating with smallholder farmers

www.aced-benin.org

AnnuAl RepoRt 2014

Centre d’Actions pour l’environnement et le Développement Durable

Published by the Centre d’Actions pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (ACED)

CoverA woman in her farm which is fertilized with compost made from water hyacinth

SupervisionFrejus Thoto

Written byDonald Houessou, Olga Abloutan, Frejus Thoto and Penelope Amoussou

TranslationNinon Raiche-Bazinet (Canada)

Graphic design and layoutTatyana Pervakova (Ukraine)

Photos credits: ACED

CitationACED (2015) Annual report 2014: Collaborating with smallholder farmers. Institutional report. ACED, Abomey-Calavi. 17p

Copyright © 2015 - ACED. All rights reserved.

2014 Highlights

Message from the Executive Director

Our activities in 2014

Strengthening the capacities of grassroots stakeholders

Valuing economically water hyacinth

Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions by water hyacinth

Increasing knowledge on the vulnerability of communities to climate change

More information and opportunities for young professionals in agriculture

Publications and communications

Conferences and Workshops

Key figures

2015 perspectives

Implementation of Year 2 of the Strategic Plan

Improving the resilience of fishermen of southern Benin

Access to carbon credits

Access to water hyacinth based energy

Young professionals capacity building in agriculture

Our staff in 2014

Our partners in 2014

table of content

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Annual Report 20143

• ACEDhaslaunchedtheimplementationofits2014 – 2018 Strategic Plan.• ACEDwasanofficialpartnerintheDo Agric campaignpilotedbyONE.• ThePROJECprojectsupportedbyFGEFandIUCNhelpedtoeliminate1,398

tons of water hyacinthonLakeNokoué.• 144 farmersweretrainedoncompostproductiontechniquesfromwater

hyacinthtoimproveagriculturalyields.• Three studies on the vulnerability of communitiestoclimatevariabilityand

changewerecarriedout.• Thefindingsofourresearchonagricultureandclimatechangewere

presentedinNiameyattheFourthAgriculturalScienceWeekofWestandCentralAfricaofCORAF/WECARD,inMontrealatthe82ndCongressofACFAS,andAccra attheAnnualGlobalDevelopmentConferenceofGDN.

• ACEDhasreceivedthevisitoftheSecretary General of the French Global

Environment Facility (FGEF)andthe Ambassador of France in Benin.• WiththesupportofGevalor,a review of literature on emissions of

greenhouse gases by water hyacinth hasbeendone.Thisreviewisthefirststepintheestablishmentofamethodologyforestimatinggreenhousegasemissionsfromwaterhyacinth.

• Aprojectontheproduction of biogasfromorganicwasteandwater

hyacinthhasbeenlaunched.• Aprojectonstrengtheningtheresilience of fishing communitiesto

environmental,climaticandhumanpressureinthecoastalareaofBeninhasbeenlaunched.

Findmoreinformationonthesehighlightsinthisreportandonourwebsiteat–www.aced-benin.org

2014 Highlights

Annual Report 20144

2014isthefirstyearoftheimplementationofour5-yearstrategicplanwhichis now fully operational and is guiding thework of the center. This yearwasparticularly important for us as family farmers, who are the target of ouractivities,werecelebratedbytheinternationalcommunity.Inthiscontext,ACEDhasstrengtheneditscollaborationatalocalscalewiththesestakeholderswhomake up the backbone of agriculture in Benin. As part of this celebration ofsmall scale farmers, we took part in a number of regional and internationalinitiativessuchasthe"DoAgric"campaignpilotedbyONEinwhichACEDwasanofficialpartner.

In the course of the year 2014,we continued towork on the reduction of theproliferationofwaterhyacinthonLakeNokoué,makingourcenterakeyplayerinthefightagainstthisproblemwhichhasbothenvironmentalandsocio-economicimplications.Anotherelementthatmarked2014wasthestrengtheningofACED’sresearchactivities.Threestudiesonthevulnerabilityofcommunitiestoclimatechange have been carried out. The findingswill guide future interventions ofACEDwiththesecommunities.

We also strengthened our collaboration with research centres such as theLaboratory of Hydrobiology and Aquaculture of the University of Abomey-Calavi, the Institut des Sciences de l’Environnement of the University ofQuebecinMontreal,theCenterforWorldFoodStudiesattheVrijeUniversityofAmsterdam,andothers. In2015,ACEDwilldevelopactivities thatarealignedwiththeimplementationofitsstrategicplan.Newprojectswillbelaunchedinvariousfieldssuchaswaterhyacinth,biogas,carboncredit,youngpeople,ICT,fisheries,climatechange,etc.

Fréjus Thoto Executive Director

ACeD continues to support smallholder farmers to make their livelihoods more resilient and sustainable

Message from the executive Director

Annual Report 20145

Our activities in 2014

Strengthening the capacities of grassroots stakeholders

ince2013,ACEDhasbeen implementingaproject of valuing water hyacinth of LakeNokoué through composting (PROJEC).

This is an initiative that aims to contribute tothe reduction of greenhouse gas emissionsand the protection of fish biodiversity in LakeNokoué.Overthecourseoftheyear,144marketgardeners,dividedinto6groups,weretrainedonthe composting process of water hyacinth andprovidedwithequipment.

Also, given the potential of this plant forbasketry, 50 women in the project interventionsite (Sô-ava)were trained inmakinghandicraftsobjects from water hyacinth and provided withmaterials for their work. After these capacitybuildingsessions,targetedtechnicalsupportwasprovidedtoensuretheproperimplementationofcompostingandbasketryactivities.Furthermore,recommendations and support were given forthemaintenance of equipment and associationsmanagement.

S Theinnovativenatureoftheprojectgarneredstrongadmirationfromtechnicalandfinancialpartners.Therefore the project received several visits,including those of Xavier DUPORGE, SecretaryGeneral of the French Global EnvironmentFacility (FGEF), HE Aline KUSTER-MENAGER,Ambassador of France inBenin, SilviaRITOSSA,Project Manager at IUCN, Romain DISSAUXfrom theFrenchMinistryofecology, sustainabledevelopmentandenergy,andJocelyneDELARUE,DirectorofGEVALOR.

The project ambition to establish a link between the preservation of the global environment and the development of income-generating activities for communities is well aligned with the FGEF

Xavier DUPORGE, Secretary General of the French Global Environment Facility (FGEF)

Handicrafts objectsfromwaterhyacinthmadeandmarketedbywomengroups

Annual Report 20146

Valuing economically water hyacinth

Strengthening the capacities of farmers allowed thecompostingof1,398tonsofwaterhyacinth.Theresultingcompost was used by groups of farmers on theirmarket garden perimeters. To sustain the productionofcompostandbasketryproducts, itwasimportanttosupport themarketingof these twoproducts tomakethem profitable. Therefore, two business plans weredeveloped for themarketingof compost andbasketryproductsobtainedfromwaterhyacinth.Forexample,onthebasisofestimatedproductioncosts,a50kgcompostbagcanbesoldat1,500FCFAinSô-avaand1,800FCFAfrancsinCotonou(theeconomiccapital)whichallowsaprofitof63FCFAperbag.Regardingbasketryproducts,prices vary from one product to another. Hats andbasketsaresoldat3,000FCFAperunitandornamentalobjects (bottles wrapped with braided hyacinths forexample)are2,000FCFAperunit.Thecost/benefitratioshowedthat100FCFAinvestedinlabourallowswomentogetaprofitof85.31FCFA.

Compostmadefromwaterhyacinth

We have observed an increase in yields of vegetables when we used the hyacinth-based compost

Hounglé, Farmer of Sô-ava

Assessment of greenhouse gas emissions by water hyacinth

One of the PROJEC objectives is to contribute to thereduction of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs).To this end, in partnership with Gevalor, the projectundertook a review of literature on GHG emissionsfrom hyacinths in their natural environment andduringcomposting.Thisliteraturereviewaimedfirsttoquantifythebaseline,i.e.theemissionsofgreenhousegasesproducedbyacertainamountofhyacinths thatdecomposes in the natural environment. As a firstapproximation, it was assumed that water hyacinthemits thesameamountofGHG(methaneandnitrousoxide)ashouseholdwasteduringcomposting. Indeed,the method of calculation recognized by UNFCCCfor composting emissions is only proportional to theamountofwasteandisnotdependentontheirquality:it is considered that during composting waste emits0.002tCH4/tofwasteand0.0002tN2O/tofwaste.Thus,for a ton of composted hyacinth, composting relatedemissionswouldbe0.11tCO2eq/tofwaterhyacinth.

CollectingwaterhyacinthfromLakeNokoué

Annual Report 20147

Increasing knowledge on the vulnerability of communities to climate change

Vulnerability of livestock based communities of Mid-Benin to climate variability and change

Livestock significantly contributes to GrossDomestic Product of West African countries.InBenin, it is a sourceof income for thousandsof households who face the negative effects ofclimatevariabilityandchange.Thisstudyassessedthevulnerabilityof livestock-basedcommunities

Biophysical vulnerability of Benin coastal zone to climate variability and change: the case of Grand-Popo and Ouidah

AstudentoftheDepartmentofGeographyattheUniversityofAbomey-Calavi(AudreyAgonvi)wasselectedtoreceiveagrantaspartoftheresearchactivities of her master’s degree. Her researchaimedtostudyclimatechanges(rain,temperature,

Herdreceivingcare,Central-Benin

CoastalerosionatOuidah,Southern-Benin

of Mid-Benin to climate variability and change.Acomposite indexandqualitativemethodswereused to quantify the vulnerability and explainhowitwasinfluencedbytheexposure,sensitivityandadaptivecapacity.Thefindingsrevealedthatthe most vulnerable were not necessarily themost sensitive or exposed. Also, socioeconomicfeaturesinfluencedthelevelofvulnerabilitywithinhouseholds.

wind)intheGrand-PopoandOuidahsector,mapthefloodriskandcharacterizethesealevelriseandcoastalerosionintheGrand-PopoandOuidahsector. This study was mainly biophysical andoutcomes will be published in early 2015. ThestudywaspartofresearchactivitiesoftheBenincoastalareasadaptationtoclimatevariabilityandchange project (PACC) funded by the CanadianInternationalDevelopmentResearchCentre.

Annual Report 20148

Vulnerability of the Southwest Benin fishing communities to climate variability and change

Fishingremainstheprincipalactivityincoastalareas of Benin and is directly experiencingthe negative effects of changes in climateparameters. This study, focused on fishingcommunities of Grand Popo and Ouidah insouthwestern Benin, adopted an integratedapproachthattookintoaccountbothbiophysicalandsocio-economicfactorsthatdeterminethevulnerabilitywithinacommunityorahousehold.Indicators were used to develop a compositeindexofvulnerability.Thefindingsofthestudyshowedthatforfishing,Grand-Popowasmorevulnerable to climate variability and change

thanOuidah from thepoint of viewof its levelofexposure,sensitivityand itsability toadapt.Withinacommunity,alowadaptivecapacitydidnotdirectlyreflecthighvulnerability.However,fishing households who experienced highexposureandmoreclimaticshockswerelikelyto experience a higher vulnerability. This wasillustratedinthemunicipalityofGrand-Popo.

Inlandfishinginsouthern-Benin

Within a community, a low adaptive capacity did not directly reflect high vulnerability.

Annual Report 20149

More information and opportunities for young professionals in agriculture

Workshopofanotheryouthplatform(Y4R)coordinatedbyACEDintheWAEMUregion

YoungpeopleareimportanttargetofACEDinterventions.TheAgroDevinitiativelaunchedin2013tofacilitatetheaccessofyoung people of Benin and other francophone countries ofAfricatoinformationandagriculturalopportunitiescontinueditsactivitieswhicharemainlyonline. Itenabledthesharingandexchangeofinformation,opportunitiesandresourcesforyouthprimarilyinthefieldofagricultureandenvironment.In2014,over30articleswerepublishedandtheblogwasvisited6,800times.

Thank you for the opportunities you share with us. Keep Up! You are doing a great job

Olivier Adissin, Student in Agricultural Sciences.

Annual Report 201410

• ACED. (2014). Composting water hyacinth: Methodology and results. Technical Guide PROJEC,Abomey-Calavi:Benin.

• ACED, GEVALOR. (2014). Valorisation de la jacinthe d’eau en fertilisant pour le maraîchage. In

FondationdeFrance,CFSI,GI,Inter-réseauxdéveloppementrural(dir.)Lesagriculturesfamilialesinnovent.25fiches innovations:marchésurbains,financement,gestiondesressourcesnaturelles.Paris,11–13.

• HouessouD.,ThotoF.,AoudjiA.,&AdegbidiA.(2014)."Vulnerabilityoflivestockbasedcommunities

toclimatevariabilityandchange: insightsfromMid-Benin".FourthAgriculturalScientificWeekofWestandCentralAfrica,CORAF/WECARD,Niamey,16to20June2014.

• WeissenbergerS.,ChouinardO.,ThotoF.,KaneA.,DioufM.&LacosteE. "Theroleofexperience

exchange and information and communication technology in climate adaptation." 82nd ACFAS,ConcordiaUniversity,Montreal,May12-16,2014.

• ThotoF.,AoudjiA.&AdegbidiA.«Vulnérabilitédescommunautésdepêcheursdusud-ouestduBénin

à la variabilité et aux changements climatiques». 82e congrès de l’ACFAS, Université Concordia,Montréal,12-16mai2014.

Publications and communications

Annual Report 201411

Conferences and Workshops

• January 28-29, 2014, Addis Ababa. Inaugural conference for theAfricanUnionYearofAgricultureandFoodSecurityandthecampaignDo Agric "Words to Action: to transform agriculture and food self-sufficiencyinAfrica"organizedbyONE.

• April 2-4, 2014, Tunis. Youth Training and knowledgeworkshop for

the results of the Africa Results Initiative - AfriK4R, organized bytheAfricanCommunityofPracticeonManagementofDevelopmentResults(AfCoP-MfDR).

• April 28-30, 2014, Cotonou. Workshop to launch the National

Community of Practice (CoP-Benin), organized by the Africa forResults Initiative (AfriK4R) sponsored by the African DevelopmentBank(AfDB)andtheAfricanCapacityBuildingFoundation(ACBF).

• May12-16,2014,Montreal.82ndCongressoftheFrenchassociation

forlearning(ACFAS).• June 18-20, 2014, Accra. 15th edition of the annual conference on

global development organized by the Global DevelopmentNetwork(GDN)onthetheme:"StructuralTransformationinAfricaandbeyond"

• June16-18,2014,Niamey.4thAgriculturalScienceWeekofWestand

CentralAfricaorganizedbytheWestandCentralAfricanCouncilforAgriculturalResearchandDevelopment(CORAF/WECARD).Theme:Innovationsinagro-silvo-pastoralsystemstofeedWestandCentralAfrica.

• July14-18,2014,Nairobi.InternationalConferenceorganizedbythe

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) andtheAfricanAssociationforRuralandAgriculturalCreditAssociation(AFRACA)."Revolutionizingthefinancingofagriculturalvaluechains:Fin4Ag".

• October 20-22, 2014, Nairobi. Workshop on Climate Smart

Agricultureandyouthengagementforfoodsecurityandagriculturaltransformation in Africa, organized by the Forum for AgriculturalResearchinAfrica(FARA)andtheInternationalCenterforResearchonAgroforestry(ICRAF).

• October31 toNovember1,2014,AddisAbaba. InternationalDayof

AfricanYouth,Edition2014organizedbytheAfricanUnion.• November 3-7, 2014, Wageningen. Workshop on the Introduction

course on knowledge management for agricultural and ruraldevelopmentorganizedbyCTA.

ACED participated in several conferences and workshops at national and international levels to contribute to policy discussions related to food security and poverty reduction

Participantsofthe4thCORAF/WECARDAgriculturalScienceWeek

Annual Report 201412

Key figures

ACED projects outcomes were presented at 8 international conferences

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5academic and professional publications were released

432farmers directly benefited from our activities

772

unique visitors looked at our website

1398tons of water hyacinth were eliminated from the Lake Nokoué

2036pages were visited on our website

2014

Annual Report 201413

2015 perspectives

Implementation of Year 2 of the Strategic plan

e are entering the second year of theimplementation of our 2014 – 2018Strategic Plan. ACED will continueW

to focus on defined themes and priorities. Ouractionswillessentiallybefocusedonsmallholderfarmers while acting on external factors thatinfluence the efficiency of their productionsystems. During the second year, we will alsostrengthen our partnerships. We will focus onlong-term partnerships that contribute moreto achievement of our strategic objectives thanprojectsspecificobjectives.

Improving the resilience of fishermen of southern Benin

ACED will continue to support fishingcommunities in the coastal zone of Benin. Byleveraging our experience and research results,new partnerships will be established to furtherstrengthentheresilienceoffishingcommunitiesin the coastal area of Benin to environmental,climaticandhumanpressures.Thefocuswillbeon continentalwaters because they are used bya larger number of communities compared tomarinewaters.Inthisframework,ACEDwillhostaregionalconferenceonthetheme.

Annual Report 201414

Access to carbon credits

The assessment of greenhouse gas emissionsby water hyacinth will help to develop themethodologyforcalculatingemissionsreductions.WiththesupportofGevalor,contactswillbemadewithvariousvoluntarystandards(GoldStandard,VCS)todeterminewiththemtheconditionsfortheadoption of this newmethodology. The ambitionisthattheprojectactivitiescanbesustainedwithgenerated revenues evenwithout other externalfundinginthefuture.

Access to water hyacinth based energy

The proliferation of water hyacinth (Eichhorniacrassipes) on Lake Nokoué is a major problemencountered by the communities of this region.Indeed, it makes transportation difficult andblocks socio-economic activities, which affectthe local economy. At the same time, ruralhouseholds,mostlypoor,havetocollectfirewoodin the mangrove of Lake Nokoué to meet theirenergyneedsforcooking.Thisfactincreasestherisk of continued natural resources degradation

Young professionals capacity building in agriculture

AgroDev will develop a new activity in 2015that aims at strengthening the capacities ofyoung professionals on specific topics. Thisactivity is initiated in order tomeet the capacitybuilding needs of young professionals. Indeed,the platform has been repeatedly solicited bymembers forvarious topicssuchasagriculturalentrepreneurship,employabilityofyoungpeople,climate smart agriculture, management ofagriculturalandruraldevelopmentprojects,etc.ACEDhasdecidedtodevelop,throughtheAgroDevplatform, some training modules oriented onspecificcapabilities.Alongwiththisnewactivity,AgroDev will continue to provide information,opportunities and resources relevant to youngprofessionalsinagriculturalfield.

andendangersthestabilityofthesecoastalzones.However, water hyacinth has great potential forbiogasgenerationandthusconstitutesapotentialsource of energy for cooking. ACEDwill explorethisopportunitytoenablelocalpeopletodiversifyenergy sources and reduce pressure on themangrove.

Annual Report 201415

Our staff in 2014

Board of Directors

- AbdelKaderAnjorin(Chairman)- AymardAllagbe(Secretary)- IsbathAli(FinancialOfficer)

Executive Direction

- FrejusThoto(ExecutiveDirector)- PenelopeAmoussou(AdministrativeandFinancialOfficer)- DonaldHouessou(ProgrammeOfficer)- OlgaAbloutan(ProgrammeOfficer)- AudreyAgonvi(Intern)- GeorginaHouinsou(Intern)

External experts

- CastroGbedomon(EnvironmentExpert)- FidèleTossou(Financialauditor)

Our partners in 2014

AfricanCapacityBuildingFoundationAfricanDevelopmentBankAfricanUnionCanadianInternationalDevelopmentResearchCenterCentreCommunalpourlaPromotionAgricole,Sô-avaCenterforWorldFoodStudiesoftheVrijeUniversityofAmsterdamDepartmentofGeographyofUniversityofAbomey-CalaviEREP-SAForumforAgriculturalResearchinAfricaFrenchDevelopmentAgency–BureauofCotonou,BeninFrenchGlobalEnvironmentFacilityGevalorGlobalDevelopmentNetworkInstitutdesSciencesdel’EnvironnementoftheUniversityofQuebecinMontrealInternationalUnionforConservationofNature–FrenchCommitteeLaboratoryofHydrobiologyandaquacultureofUniversityofAbomey-CalaviONEPlateformedesActeursdelaSociétéCivileauBéninRenewableEnergyandEnergyEfficiencyPromotioninInternationalCooperationTechnicalCentreforAgriculturalandRuralCooperationVeoliaFoundationWestandCentralAfricanCouncilforAgriculturalResearchforDevelopmentYoungProfessionalsforAgriculturalDevelopment

We say our gratitude to all institutions we collaborated with in 2014.

About ACED

The Centre d’Actions pour l’Environnement et le Développement Durable (ACED) is a not for profit organization focused on action-research which is working on food security and nutrition. ACED develops in 2013 a 5-year strategic plan (2014 – 2018) which orientates its actions.

Vision: ACED seeks to be a leading institution in empowering agricultural communities for increased food security and poverty reduction.Mission: To improve food and nutritional security in Benin in a sustainable environment.

Our programmes

• Agriculture&FoodSecurity:Tosupportsmall-scalefarmersforamore profitable agriculture.

• Climatechange:Tosupportvulnerablecommunitiesincopingwithclimate change.

• ICT for Agriculture: To promote the use of ICT for agricultural development.

Contact

t : +(229) 21 36 32 36po : 660 Abomey-Calavi, Bénine : contact@aced-benin.orgw: www.aced-benin.org