The Market Gardening Development Support Project (PADMAR) will be implemented in the southern regions of Benin, covering seven departments out of the country’s twelve: Atlantique, Couffo, Littoral, Mono, Ouémé, Plateau, and Zou. In these departments, the project will be implemented in 27 of the 44 municipalities of the country. The intervention area is home to over 5.8 million inhabitants.
The selection of the departments and municipalities is based on the following four criteria:
- The existence of potential or the emergence of a small, profitable market gardening sector.
- The existence of hydro-agricultural potential that can be developed and mobilized for small-scale farming at reasonable costs.
- Proximity to major consumption centers, including the urban areas of Lagos, Ibadan, Lomé, Accra, and Cotonou.
- A high incidence of poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, and a high unemployment rate among youth.
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the sustainable improvement of food and nutritional security and to the reduction of rural poverty in the project’s intervention area.
The development objective is to sustainably increase the income of market gardening enterprises while enhancing their resilience to the effects of climate change.