{"id":43167,"date":"2026-08-28T11:43:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T09:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/uncategorized\/the-agripowher-project-in-benin-energy-to-drive-agricultural-transformation-and-empower-women\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T10:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:06:13","slug":"the-agripowher-project-in-benin-energy-to-drive-agricultural-transformation-and-empower-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/news\/the-agripowher-project-in-benin-energy-to-drive-agricultural-transformation-and-empower-women\/","title":{"rendered":"The AGRIPOWHER project in Benin: energy to drive agricultural transformation and empower women"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<em><strong>The AGRIPOWHER project<\/strong> is coming to an end after nearly two years of implementation. It is dedicated to<strong> empowering women in agricultural entrepreneurship through renewable energy.<\/strong> It aims to strengthen the resilience of <strong>30 women farmers<\/strong> while demonstrating the technical and economic viability of an off-grid agrivoltaic system integrated into a vocational training center in Benin. This installation, located on the training center\u2019s grounds, directly supports its operations by powering the equipment and machinery used for agricultural processing and training activities, all for the benefit of the female trainees. The women receiving support, meanwhile, farm their own plots of land in a complementary manner.   <\/em>[\/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid css=&#8221;&#8221; grid_id=&#8221;vc_gid:1788250369313-c66b79a7-248f-9&#8243; include=&#8221;43125,43119,43117&#8243;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]As part of this effort, a mission took place in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/?post_type=type_pays&p=40566\">Benin<\/a> in June 2026, featuring several key stages of monitoring, training, and exchanges with local partners. The mission began with working meetings with the project\u2019s long-standing partner, the <a href=\"https:\/\/songhai.org\/apropos\"> <strong>Songha\u00ef<\/strong> Training Center<\/a>, in Porto-Novo. In Savalou, the project team conducted the acceptance inspection of the agrivoltaic system installed on the training center\u2019s grounds. This step took place in the presence of the contractor Yoorg, which was responsible for installing the equipment.   <\/p>\n<p>A few non-conformities were identified and corrected on site, allowing the facility to be brought fully into compliance. Following this, the monitoring platform was commissioned to ensure optimal management of the system\u2019s energy performance and its use in support of the center\u2019s agricultural product processing and training activities. This monitoring system will also help ensure the <strong>facility\u2019s long-term viability<\/strong> by facilitating performance tracking, anticipating potential maintenance needs, and ensuring its continued proper operation over time.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Strengthening the Skills of Local Teams&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]A training program was then conducted over four half-days, bringing together 22 participants: students nearing the end of their program, instructors from the center, electricians, and site management.<\/p>\n<p>The sessions covered several key topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the electrical safety of installations,<\/li>\n<li>system maintenance and sustainability,<\/li>\n<li>the growing guides,<\/li>\n<li>agroecological practices.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These training programs are designed to ensure long-term ownership of infrastructure and to strengthen local technical and agricultural management capacities.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;43146&#8243; css=&#8221;&#8221;][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/2&#8243;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;20px&#8221;][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;Support training for women farmers in the use of equipment for processing agricultural products&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]In-depth discussions were also held with the Songhai teams regarding <strong>the implementation of future training programs for 30 women<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Several areas were addressed collectively:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>organizing a schedule for machine usage to optimize their availability,<\/li>\n<li>the definition of a business model being considered by the center (low-cost half-day rentals, organization of specialized training sessions, etc.),<\/li>\n<li>consideration of which crops to prioritize based on the soil\u2019s gradually increasing fertility.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>At this stage, the crops being prioritized include, in particular, those that diversify and enrich the soil, such as ginger and turmeric. Starting in October, the plan is to diversify into vegetable crops (tomatoes, chili peppers, cabbage). <\/p>\n<p>The partners have also been working on developing a <strong>training certificate<\/strong> for future beneficiaries, as well as on the educational content, with training scheduled to begin on August 1, 2026.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=&#8221;A project at the intersection of energy and agriculture&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]As the first phase of the AGRIPOWHER project draws to a close, it fully demonstrates the ability of agrivoltaic solutions to reconcile <strong>agricultural production, renewable energy generation, and adaptation to the effects of climate change<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond technical innovation, it highlights a central issue: women\u2019s access to the tools, skills, and infrastructure needed to develop resilient, income-generating agricultural activities.<\/p>\n<p><strong>By harnessing renewable energy to meet local needs, this project helps strengthen women\u2019s autonomy and the region\u2019s resilience.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]Partners: <a href=\"https:\/\/songhai.org\/apropos\">Songhai<\/a>, Aquilon, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forma-eltech.fr\/\">Forma El Tech<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hautsdefrance.fr\/\">Hauts-de-France<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.totalenergies.fr\/\">Total Energies,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socomec.fr\/fr\">Socomec<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sigeif.fr\/\">Sigeif<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The AGRIPOWHER project is coming to a close after nearly two years of implementation. The project is dedicated to empowering women in agricultural entrepreneurship through renewable energy. It aims to strengthen the resilience of 30 women farmers while demonstrating the technical and economic viability of an off-grid agrivoltaic system integrated into a vocational training center in Benin.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":43119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[490,687,703,754],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-a-la-une-en","category-on-the-ground","category-agripowher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43170,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43167\/revisions\/43170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.electriciens-sans-frontieres.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}