Participatory innovation analysis along livestock value chains: Case of swine value chain in Benin

The present rise of pork demand in Benin calls for an assessment of the swine value chain (VC) to envision its development. A participatory approach is here proposed to join this assessment to a stimulation of innovation among stakeholders. The approach is divided in four stages: i) identification of actors and direct links along the VC, ii) characterisation of innovation practices, iii) identification of bottlenecks and opportunities using innovation system framework, and iv) measurement of agreement among VC actors about constraints and value-added sharing, using proportional piling tool. A second survey, two full years after the first one, assessed the impact of actions conducted with VC actors. A typological analysis of innovation practices was conducted to define “innovation profiles” among each of the three main categories of actors: swine stockbreeders (n = 134), pork butchers (n = 45) and input suppliers (n = 25). Three innovation profiles were retained for each category, which may be understood as covering 2 distinct innovator profiles and one non-innovator profile