The Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAEP) of Benin, Mr. Gaston Cossi Dossouhoui, proceeded, on March 19 in Dassa (south-central Benin), to the launch of activities relating to the Support project for the development of the cashew nut sector and agricultural entrepreneurship. It is a project funded to the tune of 18.6 million US dollars by the African Development Bank. The objective of the project is to support the installation of 3,000 hectares of new cashew orchards based on high-performance plants, to rehabilitate 10,000 hectares of old plantations through an approach of facilitation and improvement of the National Agricultural Development Fund of Benin, to produce and use grafted cashew plants on 15 hectares of nurseries. It also aims to strengthen and modernize ten existing cashew apple juice production units and ten existing cashew nut processing units. "This is a project that will contribute to improving the performance of the cashew sector to enable it to ensure, in a sustainable manner, the food and nutritional security of the population and to contribute to the economic and social development of Benin", declared the Minister in charge of Agriculture. "While contributing to the sustainable increase in the income of actors and the productivity of the cashew sector in agricultural development pole No. 4 (Borgou-Sud-Donga - Collines), the project will have to carry out, among other things, the reprofiling and the rehabilitation of 145 kilometers of access roads and the installation of 15 improved village water supply systems (HVA) for villages and processing units," said Mr. Siaka Kodjo, project coordinator. . The project also provides for the construction and equipping of five storage warehouses with a capacity of 1,000 tons each and support for the creation of modern cashew orchards for an improved yield per hectare of cashew nuts. 700 kilograms. The Resident Representative of the African Development Bank in Benin, John Andrianarisata, reaffirmed the Bank's commitment to support the country in its development. According to him, the launch of the project confirms the institution's commitment to support the efforts of the Beninese authorities in the implementation of the Government Action Program (PAG 2016-2021) - Agriculture Component, in favor of sustainable and inclusive through a structural transformation of the national economy. “The sector goal of this project is to help reduce poverty and improve food and nutritional security in Benin. More specifically, it aims to contribute to the sustainable increase in the income of actors and the productivity of the cashew sector in agricultural development pole no. 4", recalled John Andrianarisata, stressing that the project would support the creation of 10,000 jobs for young people and women during its implementation. A week before the official launch of the project, from March 8 to 12, the Government of Benin and the Bank organized a technical workshop to accelerate its implementation. The workshop was conducted in collaboration with the Territorial Agency for Agricultural Development No. 4 and was attended by members of the project management unit and executives from the National Fund for Agricultural Development. Through exchanges of experiences and capacity building of the main actors responsible for the execution of the project, the workshop made it possible to review all the planned activities and the conditions of their execution for the efficient achievement of the objectives. the project's objectives.