English

Ollivier Sintondji Luc,Dossou-Yovo Elliott,Louis Fusillier Jean,Djagba Justin,Gbaguidi Felix,Agbossou Euloge,Huat Joel

doi:10.5897/sre2016.6424

Abstract

In a context of greater climate variability and increasing population pressure, inland valleys are considered as high potential agricultural area. This agricultural potential has been subject to multiple initiatives for characterization which were generally based on the physical characteristics. However, support strategies based on such inventories often fail to fit with the promoters’ expectations. One of the reasons is that approaches used to classify inland valleys do not generally take into account socio-economic factors. This study aims to characterize the diversity of inland valleys in the departments of Mono and Couffo based on a joint consideration of biophysical, agronomic and socio-economic characteristics and to prioritize the factors affecting their agricultural use. Data were collected on 158 inland valleys and were related to biophysical characteristics, uses, management and economic productivity. Six types of inland valleys differentiated by the production systems, economic productivities and socioeconomic characteristics were identified. The production system based on rainfed rice and off-season vegetable with application of chemical fertilizer generated the highest economic productivity. Strengthening farmers’ technical abilities was important for a better capitalization on inland valleys. These results support the importance to combine several approaches in the classification of inland valleys and to fully understand the factors affecting their valorization by rural populations. Key words: Diversification, inland valleys, intensification, performance, typology, uses.

Highlights

The rapidly growing population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) necessitates an increase in food production
Factors structuring the diversity of inland valleys agricultural uses For each theme, the key factors that differentiated the sample of inland valleys were identified (Figure 2)
Technical support of projects, use of chemical fertilizers, production system and economic productivity were the major factors structuring the diversity of inland valley agricultural uses

Summary

Introduction

The rapidly growing population in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) necessitates an increase in food production. K (%) 6.51±0.24 6.72±0.20 valleys offer extensive potential for agricultural production (Faure, 2005). The flooding character of this area, the relative difficulty to manually till the soils often dominated by clay and weed pressure have been for long time the major obstacles to their cultivation (Windmeijer et al, 2002). In a context of greater climate variability and increasing pressure on uplands, the privileged hydrological conditions of inland valleys make them a great agricultural potential area for flood-tolerant crops such as rice and for off-season production (Giertz et al, 2012). The agricultural potential of inland valleys has been subjected since the 1980s to many initiatives for inventory and characterization (Legoupil et al, 2000)

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Conclusion