Benin/Promotion of agricultural export sectors: New oil palm planting campaign launched

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Madame Madeleine MORA LAFIA, officially launched the 2025 oil palm plantation campaign on Tuesday June 24, 2025 at the Obèkè-Ouèrè Rural Development Cooperative (CAR) in Adja-Ouèrè. This campaign, now in its 6th year, is full of great challenges.

At the campaign launch site, the aim is to renew old plantations. To this end, 12,870 selected seedlings will be planted over a 90-hectare area. At national level, the Agence Territoriale de Développement Agricole (ATDA 6), through the Programme national de développement de la filière palm à huile, has mobilized 1,180,649 selected seedlings to be installed on 8,250 hectares. These selected plants, produced by approved nurserymen, are a guarantee of good yields, emphasized the General Manager of ATDA 6, Mr Abdoulaye Chabi ISSA CHABI, who recommends their use to all planters.

"The oil palm sector was definitively relaunched with the elaboration of the Programme National de Développement de la Filière Palm à Huile, piloted by the Agence Territoriale de Développement Agricole du Plateau, in collaboration with ATDA 4, 5 and 7, the Directions Départementales de l'Agriculture, de l'Élevage et de la Pêche, the contributing poles and the Institut National des Recherches Agricoles (INRAB) du Bénin through the Centre de Recherches Agricoles Plantes Pérennes (...). The PAG 2021-2026 will undoubtedly meet the major challenges facing the development of the sector, enabling it to regain its position as the country's leading industrial export crop. A number of initiatives aimed at promoting the sector and making it healthier are already underway", said Madeleine MORA LAFIA, Secretary General of the MAEP.

Over the past three years," pointed out Cooperative representative Aminou LADOKE, "almost 150 hectares of old oil palm plantations have been felled and gradually replanted on their sites. During the 2022, 2023 and 2024 campaigns, he continued, some 13,900 selected young palm seedlings will be planted, covering some 97 hectares. Mr. LADOKE also thanked President TALON for having definitively brought the RACs out of their perpetual crises and put the oil palm sector back on track.

For his part, Mr Arouna LAWANI, President of the oil palm interprofession, added that the choice of the launch site was deliberate, as the RAC had previously been plagued by quarrels.He was pleased to know that peace had finally been restored, thanks to the President of the Republic.

Source: www.gouv.bj/