The ‘enabling environment’ for vegetable-rich diets in Benin: An analysis of policies, stakeholders and framings

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One of the solutions to overcome malnutrition is to set up some policies to encourage vegetable consumption. Indeed, vegetables are important for human nutrition and health. They are rich in bioactive nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, phytochemical compounds, and dietary fiber. But in Benin, vegetable consumption is very low and their production is also facing many challenges. Understanding the food environment seems to be a key step to address relevant policies to improve healthy vegetable production and consumption. This study aims to understand the food policy environment in general, and in particular the policies, stakeholders, and their perceptions of the challenges and policy priorities for the production and consumption of vegetables in Benin. For this, through a qualitative approach, a documentation review of the existing policies were done. In addition, stakeholders' NetMap workshop which gathered 15 participants and 22 stakeholders’ interviews were carried out. The interview data were processed and analyzed through a content-based analysis approach with Quirkos software. The results showed that many policies have been designed and implemented to improve food systems in Benin. These policies are mostly oriented toward agricultural product supply in terms of quantity (availability) and on improving social protection, equity, and livelihood, but with little attention paid to quality. The results of the interviews revealed many issues such as the high post-harvest losses, the high use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the weak access to improved seeds. In addition, the lack of food marketing and promotion, the lack of local vegetables promotion and the weak adaption strategies to address climate change effects have also been pointed out as issues. All these issues are seen by the stakeholders as priority points of attention that current and future policies should address to enable the environment for vegetable-rich diets in the country. Key words: Food, agriculture, nutrition, vegetable, diets, policy, stakeholders, framings, Benin