Between all-for-one and each-for-himself: On-farm competition for labour as determinant of wetland cropping in two Beninese villages

Lise Paresys, Eric Malézieux, Joël Huat, Martin J. Kropff and Walter A.H. Rossing

Agricultural Systems, 2018, vol. 159, issue C, 126-138

Abstract: In sub-Saharan Africa, unexploited land and water resources in wetlands represent an important potential for intensified, sustainable and food-secure farms through rice production and market gardening. The lack of uptake of cropping in wetlands may be related to the ways in which resources are divided between family fields and individual fields. The management system on sub-Saharan African farms comprises a family management unit or a combination of a family management unit and one or more individual management units. The family management unit or the farm head controls production in family fields to satisfy family needs while the individual management units control production in individual fields to satisfy individual needs. Our objective was to investigate the diversity in farm management systems and the resulting uptake of cropping in wetlands for different farm types, as the first step towards suggestions for enhancing rice production and market gardening in wetlands. We studied farms in two case-study villages in Benin: Zonmon in the southern part and Pelebina in the north-western part.

Keywords: Farm typology; Management system; Production system; Wetlands; Labour (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agisys:v:159:y:2018:i:c:p:126-138

DOI: 10.1016/j.agsy.2017.10.011

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