ABOUT TAERA

• Title of the project:

«Accompagnement de la Transition Agro-Ecologique par la Recherche Agricole (TAERA) »

• Project description

TAERA is a research and development implemented within the framework of the European Union’s « Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA) » initiative for a period of 38 months. It aims Enhance the current achievements of agroecology, by testing innovations and technologies that are better adapted to local contexts, sustainable, resilient to climate change and socially viable by facilitating agroecology transition of vegetables and rice production systems in the departments of Mono and Couffo in southern Benin. For this purpose, two PhD students are recruited for the project and will do their PhD on research themes that fit with the project objectives. One (01) PhD student in agroecology orientated to vegetables production system (AM) and (01) PhD student in agroecology orientated to rice production system (AR).

• General objectives

The general objective of the TAERA project is the implementation set of referential agroecological practices adapted to the vegetables and rice production systems in Mono and Couffo departments for a healthy, sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture.

• Specific objectives

Diagnosis and inventory of knowledge and experiences in agroecological practices in vegetables and rice production system developed and/or used by different (indirect and direct actors) involved in agroecology in order to highlight practices with high potential for scaling up.

Optimize by testing the local agroecological practices include crops associations, crop rotation, varietal control and soil amendments for integrated management of soil diseases and pests in the main vegetable crops and rice in the target departments.

• Survey by diagnosis and inventory of knowledge and experiences in agroecological practices in vegetables and rice production system
• Selection and supervision of doctoral and master’s students in market gardening and rice growing
• Elaboration of research protocols by doctoral students and validation by a thesis committee
• Implementation of experiments and monitoring of experiments in the target localities
• Data collection and analysis
• Dissemination
• Elaboration and publication of technical and economic data sheets, policy briefs, reference books and thesis

• Efficient agroecological innovations are validated for vegetable production systems and a decision support referential is developed.
• High-performance agroecological innovations are validated for rice production system and a decision-support referential is developed.

The project will be implemented in four municipalities including Athiémé, Lalo, Grand-Popo and Dogbo in the departments of Mono and Couffo of Benin.