Did you know that almost 80 percent of Benin’s 11.2 million people earn a living from agriculture, the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) states? Despite being a subsistence sector, agriculture contributes about 34 percent to this west African nation’s Gross Domestic Product.
It is for the above reasons that the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) and the Laboratory of Applied Ecology (LEA) together with the Alliance of Bioversity international & CIAT through the bean programme – Pan Africa Bean Research Alliance penned a partnership to commence bean research and development in Benin to promote agricultural innovation to eradicating poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, mainly in rural areas where most of the poorest live.
Benin is the latest member to join the West and Central Africa Bean Research Network (WECABREN) as its eleventh country.
This story is originally published on PABRA Africa Blogs.