RETHINKING AGRICULTURAL MECHANISATION FOR THE AGROECOLOGICAL TRANSITION: BENINS NATIONAL STRATEGY ASSESSED AGAINST AN IDEAL TYPE

Background: Agricultural mechanisation is expected to raise labour productivity in West Africa, yet it may also deepen soil degradation and social inequalities if it is not aligned with the agroecological transition. This study examines the extent to which Benins policy and institutional framework is consistent with a form of mechanisation compatiblewith that transition. Methods: An ideal type of an agroecology-compatible mechanisation policy was built from the FAOs ten elements of agroecology and the HLPEs thirteen principles and translated into seven operational dimensions. The 2022-2026 National Agricultural Mechanisation Strategy (SNMA) and its programme were described as a policy mix and given qualitative ordinal scores from 0 to 2 on each dimension, first on the basis of sixteen policy and legal texts and then on the basis of semi-structured interviews with25 public, private and farmer actors involved in implementation, supplemented by workshop testimonies.