Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

In addition to CLCAM, there is a growing number of small savings societies created by national
and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These NGOs have proliferated in the
wake of political and economic liberalization.
Restructuring agricultural services One of the most important components of the
Structural Adjustment Program is the Programme de Restructuration des Services Agricoles
(PRSA). The PRSA contains a number of elements:
Withdraw public institutions from commercial activities that the private sector can
undertake. Examples include agricultural processing, seed multiplication, veterinary
services, importation of veterinary medicine.
Improve the function of activities that the public sector must undertake through training
and capacity building. These activities include agricultural research and extension,
investment and maintenance of infrastructure, provision of agricultural market information,
and control of contagious plant and animal disease.
Reduce the fiscal burden of agricultural program. For example, the number of employees
of the Ministere de Developpement Rural and the CARDERs will be reduced by 61 percent
relative to the 1991 level.
Even though the PRSA projected an increase in the number of extension agents (agents polivalents
de vulgarisation), the actual number has declined from 711 in 1993-94 to 432 in 1997-98. This
trend is due to retirement and promotion of existing agents without sufficient recruitment of new
agents.
2.3.4 Agricultural performance since 1990
This section briefly describes the performance of the agricultural sector since the structural
adjustment programs were launched. Three areas of performance are considered: agricultural
prices, crop production, and input use.
Agricultural prices Prices have been relatively stable in Benin as a result of its
participation in the CFA franc zone. The 1994 devaluation, however, caused a significant increase
in prices, particularly the prices of tradable goods. The consumer price index increased 30 percent
from mid-1993 to mid-1994 and another 15 percent from mid-1994 to mid-1995, for a total increase
of about 50 percent. These increases have eroded the purchasing power of many consumers,
14