Benin/Mechanization and modernization of agriculture: Agricultural and agri-food markets at the heart of an international exhibition

Benin, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, is going to organize its first International Agricultural and Food Market Exhibition (SIMAA). This announcement was made by the Director of Cabinet of the MAEP, Mr. Dossa AGUEMON, during a press conference he gave to this effect on Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at the conference room of the said ministry.

This 1st edition of the SIMAA, whose theme is: "Beninese Agriculture in the era of territorialization: the major challenges and issues of modernization", has two objectives:

- To reveal the potential of Benin's Agricultural Development Poles and ;

- To mobilize more partners and investors around the modernization of the sector for a real development of the sectors and poles of agricultural development.

For this edition, two different dates were retained, namely, from 25 to 28 November 2021 at the General Mathieu KÉRÉKOU stadium in Cotonou, and from 02 to 05 December 2021 at the Tabéra place in Parakou.

The shift between these two events, according to Dossa AGUEMON, is due, firstly to the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, and secondly to a question of efficiency in order to give more chance to the direct actors of the value chain to take part.

For the speaker, the reforms initiated in the agricultural sector since 2016 have begun to produce results and offer significant investment potential. The actions that aim to promote agriculture deserve to be better zoomed.

The SIMAA is the set of communal and departmental fairs of the agricultural sector and an opportunity, looking like an international event of promotion and valorization of the implications of the private sector alongside the public sectors in achieving the objectives of modernization and development of the sector. The event is supported by the APRM and several sponsors including SoNaMa, FAGACE, GIZ ... etc..

Source: www.gouv.bj/