Enhancing livelihoods and resilience of smallholder farmers to climate change through the scaling up of value chains of indigenous fruit species: the case study of Baobab in Benin

The project “Scaling up African baobab food products valuation through enhancement of their safety and value chains for food and nutritional security in Benin” implemented from March 2018 to March 2023, aimed at combining both participatory research and capacity building activities to establish a long-lasting valorisation scheme for the African baobab at a national scale in Benin. It helped to enhance the livelihoods and resilience of small-holder farmers to climate change by (i) developing sustainable plant propagation technics for leaves and fruit production within farmer fields, making it possible to expand access to this nutritious plant while reducing pres-sure on wild populations of the species and conserving biodiversity, and (ii) improving processing techniques of derived food from the species plant parts to ensure micronutrients availability and increase the safety of baobab-related products for the communities. It was a business-oriented project with the dual aim to reduce pressure on the wild population of baobab while benefiting from the development of the baobab value chains. Its implementation highlighted the importance of the species regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation to its impacts. Keywords: African baobab, biodiversity conservation, climate change resilience, nature-based solution, wild edible plant species