Résumé
Local parboiled rice, because of its nutritional values better than white rice, is an interesting alternative to reduce Benin's dependence on imported white rice. Since the rice crisis of 2008, Benin has improved the production and the quality of local parboiled rice to facilitate its access to urban markets. Despite these efforts, local parboiled rice is not available on Cotonou's markets, the first town of Benin. Based on a sample of 210 actors, this article uses the paradigm S-C-P (Structure-Behavior-Performance) to identify the main reasons for the unavailability of this rice in Cotonou's markets. Our results show that local parboiled rice represents 3% of rice supply of Cotonou, five times less than imported parboiled rice. The demand for local parboiled rice is low due to consumers' ignorance of its nutritional values, higher prices than imported parboiled rice and unavailability throughout the year among all traders by households. Awareness raising efforts (awareness sessions, billboards and advertising spots) on the nutritional values of local parboiled rice could change urban consumers' behavior in favor of local parboiled rice. However, parboiled rice is also imported, so we recommend to study and analyze the determinants of parboiled rice choice in order to avoid Benin's dependence on imported parboiled rice.