Seventy percent of people in the West African state of Benin live in the countryside. Most of them don't have any electricity. North of the capital Porto Novo, the French organization Geres is overseeing a project that makes life a bit easier, by helping people to process their food with the help of machines.
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The project is primarily targeted at women in the Zou region, who have got together to form cooperatives. Geres has set up 35 plants where women can process their foodstuffs. As diesel is expensive, the machines are run on biodiesel.