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Integration of livestock farming practices with trees is neglected and poorly explored in the context of climate change (CC) in drylands. However, such knowledge is urgently needed to propose effective strategies in the livestock sector to cope with CC. This study is initiated to characterize the diversity of indigenous integrated livestock systems with trees in drylands of Benin through a survey including 140 smallholder farmers. Descriptive statistics were performed to socio-economic profile of livestock farmers and data were submitted to a multiple correspondence analysis with hierarchical ascending classification and four types of integrated livestock smallholder farmers have been highlighted. The first type is referred to "Traditional silvopastoral systems", consisting of farmers owning high tropical livestock unit (26 ± 0.59 TLU). They did not have land ownership and they exploited trees and shrubs in rangelands and protected areas. They used indigenous trees for treating sick animals and feeding. The second type is "Improved silvopastoral systems" with an average of 11 ± 0.21 TLU. They had a land ownership and combined livestock, forage plants and fodder trees in pasturelands. The third type, referred as "Small Integrated agrosilvopastoral systems" consisted of smallholder farmers who integrated agriculture, livestock and tree plantations. They owned a low livestock tropical unit (6 ± 0.24 TLU). The last type qualified as "Large Integrated agrosilvopastoral systems" owned an average of 18 ± 0.34 TLU and cultivated large areas of land. Leguminous trees are used to improve soil fertility and as animal feed. A probit model analysis results indicated that the adoption of trees on livestock farming were influenced by ecological region, membership of association, Land tenure, farm size and herd size. Based on these identified different agroforestry practices of livestock smallholder farmers in the drylands, indigenous community-based adaptation can be designed to face CC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender has been broadly acknowledged to play an essential role in a household's food security. However, most of the existing studies have assessed the potential contribution of gender to food security based on sex disaggregation only (women vs. men). We revisit the relationship between gender and food security by focusing simultaneously on two core elements of gender: access to and control over productive resources. We use primary data collected from 295 households randomly selected in two districts in Benin to fit a generalized structural equation model. Our results showed four types of households: households without women's access and control of resources, households with women's access to capital only, households with women access to all resources and households with access and control over resources. Households with access and control over resources are the majority of the sample of households surveyed, while households without women's access and control of resources occupied 5.9% of the households surveyed. Households, where women have full access to and control over resources, are less exposed to food insecurity. This result holds true in households where women contribute to food expenditures. The expenditures are on products with high nutritional value. Women who control resources with no expenditure on food, like men, did not influence household food insecurity. We recommend particular attention to women's empowerment within their households to reduce food insecurity in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Societe et Environnement is the property of Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Populations are subjected to climatic uncertainties, the predictions of which are major challenges for the scientific community. This study analyzes indigenous climate event prediction and adaptation based on indigenous knowledge in North Benin. A sample of 80 holders of indigenous knowledge of prediction of climate events was selected using snowball sampling in the district of Gogonou. Data were collected during semi-structured interviews with the indigenous knowledge holders. Data included the profile of the knowledge holders, climate events and their prediction signs, and the planned responses in the face of climate events. Data were analyzed using discourse analysis and descriptive statistics. The results showed that the holders of indigenous knowledge of prediction of climate events are agropastoralists and some of their wives. They are over 60 years old and rooted in traditional religion. Climate events predicted were floods, pockets of drought, early cessation of rains, and invasion of fields by caterpillars. These climate events are predicted from animal, vegetable, and nature behaviors. The responses developed in the face of climate events are mainly the relocation of fields to firm land, the use of drought-tolerant varieties, the relocation of planting periods, and the planning of the suspension of children's schooling for spreading and planting operations. These findings demonstrate the necessity for policymakers to consider the value of indigenous knowledge to reduce the e􀀀ects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural land plans (RLP) and the systematic cluster approach (SCA) are the two main approaches used in Benin to secure rural land tenure. However, the contributions of these approaches to land tenure security in rural communities are mixed. This paper firstly identifies the main factors to be considered in conceptualizing rural land tenure security and secondly assesses the contributions of the two approaches in achieving rural land tenure security. The study is conducted in four communes of Borgou (a district in North Benin) that have benefited from both approaches to land tenure security. The dimensions of land tenure security were identified during focus group discussions and unstructured interviews with key informants. The contribution of the approaches is assessed using individual surveys from 742 beneficiaries of the approaches randomly selected, based on actors' perceptions measured on the Likert scale. The nonparametric Friedman test was used to determine the average rank of each factor according to the RLP or SCA context. As a result, land tenure security must integrate nine factors, leading to two forms of land tenure security. Legal and institutional security includes land tenure norms, property rights, local land management institutions, and the land information system. Socioenvironmental security involves access and use rights, social peace, gender mainstreaming, and land conservation. According to stakeholders' perceptions, RLPs mainly lead to legal-institutional security, whereas SCA combines and contributes to both forms of land tenure security. Rural smallholders will enjoy high levels of land security when these elements are in dynamic balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to land is crucial for food systems to address the challenges caused by habitat and biodiversity loss, land and water degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable food production requires land security upstream for agricultural production. Land security emanates from the land law implemented in-country by government policy. In the span of a decade (2007–2017), three different land reforms have been adopted in Benin. This paper aims to investigate the land rights and land tenure security for sustainable food production according to land law and the factors that influence agricultural entrepreneurial activities in North Benin. The study was carried out in the Borgou department, mainly in five communes that are beneficiaries of the Responsible Land Policy Project of GIZ (Promotion d'une Politique Foncière Responsible: ProPFR/GIZ). A multistage sampling procedure was used to select the agricultural entrepreneur respondents. A total of 102 agriculture entrepreneurs were interviewed in 25 villages. According to land law in Benin, the results highlight the different levels of land tenure security and land rights represented by types of land documents: type contract (use right), certificates of customary ownership (ADC), and land title. The research reveals that 44.3% of the land of agriculture entrepreneurs' respondents possessed the certificates of customary ownership and 18% possessed the land title. The facilitation of access to legal land documents such as certificates of customary ownership and land titles can protect agricultural entrepreneurship for sustainable food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social relationships are widely recognized in the achievement of competitive advantages and performance in small-scale farms, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. But two questions remain poorly elucidated. What are the specific practices leading to the development of social relationship among small-scale farmers? And what form of social relationship is privileged according to the business context? This paper contributes to this debate by adopting an inductive approach based on an in-depth case study. Empirical data are collected through individual and group interviews with small-scale farmers of Indigenous Leafy Vegetables (ILV) in Benin. Findings support that, in order to improve their competitive advantage and better commercialize their products, small-scale farmers invest in activities that lead to the loyalty or diversification of social ties. When the farmers operate in a low-demand environment, competitive advantage is provided by the loyalty of social ties. When they operate in high-demand environment, they diversify social ties. The implications of these results are that whereas customers' loyalty provides a competitive advantage to farmers in the area where local demand is weak, investment in social network diversification provides a competitive advantage to farmers where strong local demand is evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken to contribute to the sustainable management of yam (Dioscorea sp.) diversity in Benin. We surveyed 220 farms from eight different villages in the north part of Benin. We hypothesized that the richness of yam cultivars is more related to farmers' ethnic group than to their geographical location. Cultivar diversity may differ from one ethnic group to another within a given area, but remains constant for a given ethnic group independent of its geographical location. This study identified 182 yam cultivars in the region; however, only a few farmers on a very small scale marginally produce more than 50% of that total richness. Cultivation practices as well as historical and socio-cultural determinants played important roles in the creation and maintenance of yam diversity within each ethnic group. The Bariba and the Gando ethnic groups, having developed yam cultivation since time immemorial, still hold the most diverse collection of yam varieties. The access of farmers to main roads and the availability of arable land in a given village greatly influenced the overall yam diversity in the region. This study high- lighted the need to combine social determinants and geographical patterns in the conservation of agricultural diversity in Benin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Societe et Environnement is the property of Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)