Abstract

Clément Gbêhi and Cees Leeuwis

In many parts of the world, agricultural policy is being restructured to promote changes which advance new mechanisms of financing knowledge-based services. In Bénin, a Project for Restructuring Agricultural Services (PRSA-Bénin) is achieved. This study considers this project journey and the recent changes in agricultural policy. A key concern of the Béninese government in advancing these changes, as argued in this article, is to make it a better policy instrument for more intensive involvement of farmers and other private sector organizations in funding arrangements. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, and reconstruction ex-post of activities undertaken were used to investigate the project journey. Additionally, to support our analysis, we made use of the results of evaluative studies, documents and project reports, and findings of meetings of a specified forum designed for three days. Results show that the perspective and management of agricultural policy and knowledge-based services changed. Several private sector organizations have interests, including farmers’ organizations, NGOs, commercial companies and microfinance institutions. New mechanisms of financing agricultural policy and services are institutionalized. Results also question the conventional understanding and practices of agricultural knowledge-based services.