2SCALE Thematic Papers Not By Technology and Money Alone | Page 13

3. Parboiled rice:
A new super highway
to empowerment
for Benin’s rural women
By Léonard Cossi
Hinnou,
trainer-mentor, Benin
Key themes: SMEs organisation, Cluster development and functioning, Gender
Parboiled Rice-
Benin PPP
The partnership
emphasises the
promotion of nutritious
parboiled rice in Benin,
through the engagement
of grassroots women-
based parboiling
organisations connected
with paddy producer
organisations and
various market outlets.
Summary
Highlighted in this story is the pathway of women
processors from working as individual rice parboilers to
becoming organised full partners in a rice agribusiness
cluster in Benin. Thanks to capacity strengthening in
organisational soft skills as well as improved parboiling
techniques, the processors were able to obtain the raw
material supplies needed to improve their product and
thereby develop high quality branded parboiled local rice
and venture different marketing channels. The author has
witnessed this development as trainer-mentor to the rice
agribusiness cluster in focus.
In the past, consumption of rice in Benin was a luxury for
rural families who had low purchasing power. Rice used to
only be reserved for festive meals. And because of the low
quality of local rice, those who could afford it would only buy
imported rice. In spite of many development projects to sup-
port local actors of the rice sector, and women in particular,
this situation hardly improved at all.
But today, rural women have started to invest in the par-
boiled rice value chain, in order to change their situation.
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Surprisingly, despite their large numbers, women parboilers
have always maintained a secondary role in the different
local rice value chains. Now, for the first time, these women
have organised themselves into associations such as Anti
sua (meaning: take care of yourself) and Mialébouni (taking
good care of rice) to collectively produce or process rice.
As Djibril Biba, the president of Anti sua says: “Together we
are stronger”.