The Government of Benin is aware of serious problems related to existing stocks of obsolete pesticides, but also recognises that it currently lacks the technical know-how to resolve these problems. It therefore contacted FAO for advice and assistance. The Government of Japan indicated interest to finance the project through a direct contribution to the Japanese Trust Fund established at FAO headquarters. The net result will be a direct agreement between the Government of Japan and FAO headquarters.

GCP/BEN/055/JPN project is designed primarily to evaluate the scope of the obsolete pesticides problem in Benin by assisting the country to carry out a detailed inventory and risk assessment. In addition, the project will identify needs for further legal, institutional and technical capacity building in pest and pesticide management and as a consequence to identify and move towards elimination of their obsolete pesticide stocks.

Specifically, this project will contribute to environmental sector improvements through:

• improving environmental protection through reducing pesticide pollution and pesticide-related degradation of fisheries, waters and soils;
• reducing public health risks through reducing exposure to pesticides;
• improving the quality of life in the poor communities through reducing pesticide hazards in their living and working environment.
• Additionally, the project will contribute to the agricultural sector by:
   engaging national authorities with international processes aimed at reducing risks from pesticides;
• improving the control of illegal traffic of substandard pesticides by
• developing technical and institutional capacity at entry points and along the national pesticide distribution network;
• enhancing the opportunity of the agricultural sector to manage crop pests and pesticides in more sustainable ways; educating farmers and extensions agents to contribute to pesticides reduction and highly hazardous pesticides, by promoting alternatives to conventional chemical pesticides; 
• advancing the removal of obsolete pesticides that pose contamination risks for water, land, livestock and crops.

In 2009, the Government of Benin banned the import of endosulfan. An estimated quantity of 600 tonnes of obsoletes pesticides including 350 of endosulfan have been identified. A large stock of dieldrin contaminated soil has also been identified, requiring remediation. An estimated 30 000 empty containers requiring centralization, cleaning, crushing and recycling were also identified. Current storage conditions for obsolete stocks are substandard and there is an ongoing risk that chemicals will be stolen from the stores, resold and reused illegally. In addition empty pesticide containers are yet to be collected and centralized and remain a key source of human exposure to pesticides and environmental contamination in rural areas. Cotton remains an important crop to the Benin population, however alternatives are yet to be made widely available and taken up by cotton farmers. As a result, illegal trade in endosulfan is rife and the Government of Benin requires FAO’s assistance to destroy endosulfan stocks, improve control of illegal traffic of pesticides and promote identification, technical and economic feasibility of alternatives to endosulfan and other highly hazardous pesticides and the uptake of alternatives. 

The project is being managed from the Ministry of Agriculture and staffed by one full-time project coordinator. The website based Pesticides Stocks Management System (PSMS) will be established at the Ministry of Agriculture, but will be accessible to staff from the Ministries of Environment and Public Health. The Ministry of Environment will be involved in inventory, safeguarding, transport of obsolete pesticides and assessment of contaminated sites. The Ministry of Public Health will be involved in all project activities. A project steering committee (PSC) will be established, including representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture, Environment, and Public Health, the Customs Office and key Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working on pesticide alternatives.

The project will result in three outcomes:

• Improved management of obsolete pesticides, contaminated sites and contaminated materials. 
• Improved pest and pesticides management.
• Impacts of pesticides on human health and the environment communicated to stakeholders.

Aug 2013 updated

GEF PPG Project in Benin

Previous activities have resulted in the inventory of about 350 tons of endosulfan located in several sites around Benin. Preliminary training of key Benin staff on inventory implementation has been conducted, and a plan for completion of the national POPs/obsolete pesticides inventory has been developed. Four key areas in Benin have been identified, housing 56 pesticide storage sites, including: 14 sites in Kandi and Parakou; 18 sites in Dassa, Zoume, Djougou and Nalitingou; 24 sites in Bohicon, Allada and Lokrossa; and 10 sites in Oporto Novo. In addition to the inventory implementation, a national team is being trained to upload and validate the inventory data into Pesticides Stock Management System (PSMS).  The proposed PPG will build on this information and allow for the analysis of the PSMS data and evaluation of disposal options.  The PPG will also provide specific technical inputs in the areas of contaminated site evaluation, empty container management, analysis of existing alternatives to POPs pesticides and IPM practices and options for their promotion; assessment of pesticide life-cycle management capacity gaps and needs (including the review of national pesticide legislation and institutional arrangements for its implementation).
Specific key preparation activities will consist of: (i) multi-stakeholders consultations, including inception and completion workshops to ensure involvement of key stakeholders in the project design process and clear definition of their role and responsibilities in the project; (ii) preliminary work to design a POPs/obsolete pesticides disposal strategy; (iii) identification of priority contaminated sites and needs for their remediation; (iv) design of a container management strategy, including an analysis of the current management of pesticide containers in the country, consultations with local pesticide industry representatives about possible public-private partnership for container management, and identification of options for the establishment of a cost-effective and sustainable container management system; (v) review of existing pesticide legislation and regulations and identification of  gaps and areas needing strengthening; (vi) analysis of pesticides life –cycle management and identification of institutional and technical capacity building needs for sound pesticide management; and (vii) development of baseline data on the use of pesticides and related alternatives for the control of pest and diseases as basis for identification of potential alternatives to hazardous pesticides for key pest and diseases; strategy for  promotion of IPM and  selection of potential sites for implementation of such  strategy during the project; and (viii) incremental reasoning and development of the detailed financing plan.
The main outputs that will contribute to the preparation of the full FAO-GEF Project Document and CEO Endorsement request will consist of: relevant baseline data and information collected during the preparation period, workshop reports, consultants’ analysis and proposals. The final product will be FAO-GEF Project Document with the detailed design of project components, including Results Framework, a monitoring and evaluation plan, detailed financing plan, risk and mitigation analysis, stakeholder analysis, cost effectiveness analysis of the project strategy, and agreed implementation arrangements. The CEO Endorsement Request template and the POPs tracking tools will also be prepared.