Q&A: In Benin, “People Exploit What They Want, As They Want”

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Interview with Sylvestre Fandohan

COTONOU, Apr 27 2007 (IPS) - For many people, the importing of tomatoes is probably not a topic of great fascination. But then, they’re not Sylvestre Fandohan.

This Beninese agricultural engineer sees in his country’s consumption of tomatoes from neighbouring Burkina Faso an indictment of poor natural resource management by the Cotonou government and its citizens. As national co-ordinator of the Conservation and Natural Resource Management Programme (Programme de conservation et de gestion des ressources naturelles, ProCGRN), a joint Beninese-German initiative mainly carried out in the north-western Atacora and Donga regions, he is also working to change this state of affairs.

Recently, Fandohan sat down with Michée Boko of IPS to discuss ProCGRN, which got underway in January 2004 and is scheduled to wrap up in December 2014; the project aims to help communities make better use of natural resources, to increase their income. Ultimately, it also works to fight desertification in Benin.

IPS: What agricultural practices have you come across that are bad for the land, but which subsistence farmers persist in carrying out?

Sylvestre Fandohan (SF): In the region of Donga, for example, they create large mounds to produce yams. This often happens in low-lying areas, that they could have used to produce rice, for instance – helping to conserve water and land. (Yams are typically planted on mounds of earth rather than in the soil, as they require lightly compacted sand to flourish.)

IPS: Does the cultivation of yams present additional problems?

SF: The cultivation of yams is very destructive for natural resources. It’s land-extensive, slash-and-burn farming. In communities such as Ouaké and Copargo, also in the north-west of Benin, (yams are) essentially the main crop. It’s a crop that is always raised on cleared land…abandoned after three years, at most, for new bush land.

IPS: With people setting fire to the bush on this new land to clear it?

SF: Exactly: it’s always new ground (and) frequent fires that are lit late in the dry season in place of starting fires earlier, as we often advise them. In this region there are more late fires, which severely degrade the soil…They kill animals and plants…

IPS: Have you observed other dangerous practices?

SF: Yes. We have noted uncontrolled forest exploitation, especially concerning timber, through the use of chainsaws – tools which are banned because they enable an exploitation that is too rapid and that leads to wastage of wood. This also compromises good management of natural resources, and is a factor in “Sahelisation” and ultimately desertification. (The Sahel region lies between the Sahara desert and equatorial parts of Africa; extending across most of the continent, it is a semi-arid region.)

IPS: Are you saying that natural resources in Benin are under threat?

SF: Absolutely! This is simply due to the absence of good implementation of laws. Benin has fine laws that protect the environment and natural resources, but they are not implemented at all, or are poorly implemented.

IPS: Why?

SF: Unfortunately, Benin has not yet developed all the instruments of good governance that are necessary for resources to be better managed. Today, people exploit what they want, as they want, with assistance from all ranks of forestry officials…There are people who export forest products of Benin and pass them off as products of Togo or Nigeria…

IPS: If you had to compare conservation efforts in Benin to what is being done in neighbouring countries, what would you say?

SF: Taking Burkina (Faso) as an example, I would say that in the area of water resource management, Benin is considerably behind. Benin has more water than Burkina. But, do you know than that at this precise moment, it consumes many tomatoes from Burkina Faso, which is a Sahelian country? Isn’t this strange?

IPS: Strange, or shameful, rather?

SF: Strange and shameful at the same time. Paradoxical as well, especially as Benin is better endowed by nature, compared to Burkina. That we do not know how to manage these resources better than people who are less endowed by nature, I find very serious. And, it’s very important for us, as Benin is an agricultural country; making water available in all seasons…is a fight that we must continue to wage. This could solve many of the problems concerning pressure on natural resources and desertification.

IPS: Does ProCGRN provide solutions for desertification?

SF: Practically, all that we do contributes to fighting desertification. The fact that we have already taken steps to preserve unique ecosystems like Pendjari National Park in the far north-west of Benin, the fact that we have developed new varieties of rice that resist drought, and taken steps to conserve land…and water resources – (these) are also measures that help in the fight against desertification.