“In Bénin, agricultural journalism is more than a profession,” said Djibril Azonsi, vice-president of Glé Xò. “It is a lever for transformation. We want to give a voice to producers, showcase agricultural innovations, inform public decision-makers, and show the world the full potential of our agriculture.”
Founded in November 2019 and based in Cotonou, Glé Xò is one of the youngest agricultural journalism guilds in West Africa. With 10 active members drawn from television, radio, print and online media, the association covers a sector that carries enormous weight in the national economy. Agriculture generates 70% of jobs in Bénin and accounts for roughly 30% of GDP. As member Auriol Houdegbe puts it, agricultural journalism must “shine a light on this sector, celebrate those who feed us, and attract more young people.”
Glé Xò has been doing exactly that since its founding. The guild’s Boot Camp programme — an intensive, field-based training format that places journalists directly in farming environments — has already run three editions, taking teams to livestock farms in Adjohoun, a fish farming cooperative, and a banana plantation in Allada. These are not classroom exercises. They are immersions in the daily reality of the farmers Glé Xò exists to cover.
The guild has also partnered with Bénin’s National Agricultural Development Fund (FNDA) to run workshops training media professionals in agricultural finance reporting, including exclusive access to interviews with the Minister of Agriculture. Its Vendredi Agricole initiative — a monthly media café bringing agricultural experts directly to journalists — hosted the director of the national food safety laboratory, the GIZ ProAgri coordinator, and the FNDA director, among others, before funding constraints forced it to pause. And every month, members gather to study agricultural English, preparing themselves for the international networks they intend to join.
For a five-year-old guild with 10 active members and no institutional funding, that is an impressive resume.
The challenges they face, however, are just as real. Member commitment is uneven. Financial resources are scarce. The wages most Beninese journalists earn make it hard to sustain voluntary contributions to a professional association.
“The biggest challenge we have faced is member engagement and the mobilisation of financial resources,” said president André Tokpon. “Nevertheless, we have pulled together — and today we have more young journalists getting involved in both traditional and specialised media in Bénin.”
That ‘pulling together’ is what Glé Xò is building on. The guild has the official endorsement of the Ministry of Agriculture, established relationships with key stakeholders across the agricultural sector, and a membership that is, in its own words, eager to specialise. What it needs now is the structure to convert that eagerness into something durable.
Glé Xò’s vision for the next two years is to double its membership, run regular capacity-building activities, deepen engagement with agricultural stakeholders across Bénin and West Africa, and contribute to the kind of investigative, in-depth coverage that can actually influence policy.
“A thriving association,” said member Serge Adjakou, “is one whose members are informed, connected to international networks, and recognised as a point of reference — capable of influencing public policy and agricultural practices.”
JumpStart is how Glé Xò intends to get there.
A guild this young, this active, and this determined deserves the chance to find out what it can become. Help them build it.
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