PREFOSYC Project - An academia partnership to develop sustainable cotton growing

The cotton sector is a key economic growth driver for Benin, which has been Africa’s leading cotton producer since 2018.
The Beninese Government has set course on further increasing production and moving towards its sustainable intensification. The ambition? Make the sustainable development of this sector the main driver of the country’s agroecological transition in a context of climate change adaptation and with a view to enhancing the sustainability of cropping and agro-pastoral systems.

Moreover, support for the actors in this sector is a priority. Given that this growth has high economic and environmental stakes, the links to be forged with the sector’s professionals must be robust and match their needs to ensure that young graduates can find jobs in the labour market.

The PREFOSYC project aims to set up a long-term strategic partnership to provide higher education training courses at the Faculty of Agronomy of the Université de Parakou (UP) in Benin: a Master’s and PhD/Doctorate training Programme.These quality, job-oriented training programmes, attractive at national and sub-regional level aim to train executive cotton specialists by contributing to the development sustainable production systems.

The project was selected for the second edition of the “Academia Partnerships Africa-France” programme (PeA). It is financed by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs via the Agence française de développement (AFD). The PeA programme is implemented by the Agence nationale de la recherche (ANR – French National Research Agency) and Campus France with support from the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research.

This project contributes to achieving the following  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

• Achieve zero hunger, food security for all, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (SDG 2).
• Co-build quality, job-oriented training programmes on the African continent (SDG 4).
• Facilitate the access of African youth to training that leads to decent work (SDG 8).
• Protect and restore terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15).