Diversity of cattle production in Northwestern Bénin

Diversité de la production bovine au nord-ouest du Bénin

Adam K. L. S. Sounon, Dodji Paolo A. Armel Lesse, Alexandre Ickowicz, Samir Messad (), Matthieu Lesnoff (), Marcel R. B. Houinato and Guy Apollinaire Mensah
Additional contact information
Adam K. L. S. Sounon: MAEP - Ministère de l'Agriculture de l'Elevage et de la Pêche
Dodji Paolo A. Armel Lesse: UAC - Université d’Abomey-Calavi = University of Abomey Calavi
Alexandre Ickowicz: UMR SELMET - Systèmes d'élevage méditerranéens et tropicaux - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Samir Messad: UMR SELMET - Systèmes d'élevage méditerranéens et tropicaux - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Matthieu Lesnoff: UMR SELMET - Systèmes d'élevage méditerranéens et tropicaux - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement
Marcel R. B. Houinato: UAC - Université d’Abomey-Calavi = University of Abomey Calavi
Guy Apollinaire Mensah: INRAB - Institut National de Recherche Agricole du Bénin

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Abstract: Pastoral mobility in protected ecosystems of Sudanian and Sudano-Sahelian Africa has favoured seasonal load transfer from Sahelian countries to southern regions. These seasonal movements that have evolved into pastoral migrations have made the Donga Basin in Northwestern Bénin an attraction area of international importance for cattle breeding. But with the tightening of forest policy and the intensification of forest monitoring, this pastoral mobility has been regulated by bilateral and community agreements. The consequences of this change have resulted in varied lifestyles and production patterns, based on very diverse combinations of extensive rain-fed agriculture and mixed-type farming. In this joint evolution of land and agricultural land, the typology of farms appears as an indispensable tool to characterize the diversity of production systems in a changing environment. The construction of the typology of farms in the Donga Basin is carried out first by a method of "expert says", then deepened by an analytical and statistical analysis of the database from field surveys conducted in 2010 and which covered 254 families, of which 48 reported farming. The criteria used were social (ethnicity, age, seniority in the community and land status), but also of a technical nature (type of route, water points used, labour force, size of flock, milking of milk). This qualitative and quantitative approach has made it possible to distinguish nine categories of livestock farms (autochthonous, transhumant, immigrants, peri-urban, entrusted, hut, fattening, traction and transit), grouped into -i- the semi-sedentary system, - ii- the mobile system and -iii- the opportunistic system, three types of systems. The major difference between these three systems resided not only in their practice (mobility, browsing and inputs), but also in their numerical weight on the local herd (49% for the semi-sedentary system, 43% for the mobile system and 8% for the opportunist). From a performance point of view, the mobile system had a better digital performance, which was 11%, compared to 7% in the semi-sedentary system. On the other hand, the opportunistic system, which was not a breeder system, simply values products from the other two breeder systems. The distribution of cattle breeding into three systems is quite expressive knowing that the villages are suitable for the semi-sedentary and mobile systems while the realities of the city are suitable for the opportunistic system.

Keywords: Bénin; système d'élevage; élevage de bétail; système de production; bovin; production de bétail; production animale; système d'exploitation agricole; Systèmes d’élevage; Typologie d'exploitation agricole; Bovins; Benin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05180229v1
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Published in Bulletin de la Recherche Agronomique du Bénin (BRAB), 2023, 33 (1), pp.63-74

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