In Lokossa, the sector’s consultation framework put forward two recommendations that pave the way for the national PRCC workshop
On 15 and 16 October 2026, in Lokossa, the consultation and synergy framework of Benin’s pineapple sector stakeholders held its session, coordinated by the Territorial Agency for Agricultural Development of Pole 7 (ATDA-Pôle 7). Forty-two participants took part: the professional organisations of producers and processors, the interprofessional body, and the public support structures – the ATDAs of Poles 4 to 7, the departmental agriculture directorates, ABSSA, INRAB, DPV, PACOFIDE and SoNaMA. COLEAD was there, under the PRCC, with one objective: to prepare with these stakeholders the national workshop on public-private dialogue planned for the coming months. Rather than arriving with a ready-made agenda, the team worked through the body where the sector already meets.
A campaign plan, and a maturity grid
The work covered the follow-up of the recommendations of the first session, the assessment of the 2026-2027 campaign plan and the drafting of the 2027-2028 plan. COLEAD presented the PRCC and its approach to public-private dialogue, in particular the grid it uses to assess the maturity of a consultation framework along four dimensions.
Two recommendations that prepare the workshop
Among the session’s recommendations, two echo the findings of the PRCC study on blocking factors and are of direct interest to the programme. The first: strengthening the regulation of pineapple exports, by formalising European market requirements and drawing up proposals to better structure exports. The second: strengthening interprofessional dialogue, with a roadmap that will set two to three priority actions by February 2027.
On the sidelines of the session, a meeting with the new Director General of ATDA-Pôle 7 covered COLEAD’s support to the consultation framework and the preparation of the national workshop. It is now up to the ATDA to designate a focal point, confirm the priority sanitary and phytosanitary issue, propose a window for the workshop between November 2026 and March 2027, and send a list of participants representative of the public and private sectors.
Public-private dialogue, one of the PRCC’s four objectives
Financed by the French Development Agency (AFD) from January 2025 to December 2027, the PRCC is an additional financing component of the Fit For Market programmes, continuing the work of FFM, FFM SPS and FFM+, and active in seven countries: Benin, Guinea, Madagascar, Malawi, Senegal, Tanzania and Togo. Alongside market access, the strengthening of professional organisations and support services, and the adoption of sustainable practices, its fourth objective is to identify, through structured dialogue between public authorities and the private sector, the factors that limit access to the European market, so that they can be prioritised. The Benin workshop falls under this strand; the Lokossa session is its first step.
This activity is supported by the PRCC (Trade Capacity Building Programme), implemented by COLEAD, with financial support from the French Republic through the French Development Agency (AFD). This communication has been produced with the financial support of AFD. Its content is the sole responsibility of COLEAD and can in no way be taken to reflect the position of AFD.