TITLE:
Transformation of Social Representations of the Agricultural Advisor’s Role in Benin Agroecological Transition: A Professional Dilemmas Approach
AUTHORS:
Murelle Sènami Aissoun, Sonagnon Claude-Gervais Assogba
KEYWORDS:
Social Representations, Professional Dilemmas, Agricultural Advisory Services, Agroecological Transition, Benin
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.10,
October
20,
2026
ABSTRACT: This study analyzes the transformation of social representations of the agricultural advisor’s role in the context of the agroecological transition in Benin. It draws on interviews conducted with 30 agricultural advisors and combines lexical analysis with the analysis of professional dilemmas to compare representations of advisory work in conventional agriculture and in agroecology. The results show a contrast between a representation of conventional advisory work mainly associated with technical prescription, synthetic chemical inputs, and the pursuit of productive performance, and an agroecological representation more closely associated with the contextualization of interventions, learning, and the consideration of ecological and social dimensions. The professional dilemmas confirm a shift in advisors’ postures across several dimensions of the role: the frame of reference for action, knowledge transmission, the scale of intervention, and principles of action toward social norms. By contrast, the purpose of advisory work remains more contested, negotiated between securing the producer’s output and income. These results thus show that the agroecological transition is accompanied by a reconfiguration of the advisor’s role, without a complete break from the references of the conventional model.