Practice of home gardens (HG) in the suburban area between Cotonou and Ouidah in southern Benin
Paper Details
Practice of home gardens (HG) in the suburban area between Cotonou and Ouidah in southern Benin
Abstract
In the suburban area between the cities of Cotonou and Ouidah in Benin, home gardens are sources of food crops and fruit products for families. They also include medicinal plants that form the vital core of the remedies available in the household and ornamental plants. The samply survey deals with 46 homegardens and 31 are selected for the study. The objective of this study is to the presence or absence of homegarden in this suburban area. Data concerned the size, species composition, the phytogeographic distribution of home gardens, the different uses of plants. The collection of information was carried out by individual structured interviews with households. The diversity indices such as Shannon-Wiener, Jaccard helped to categorize these home gardens located on the coastal strip and clarify their biological wealth. The size of these gardens is between 55 m2 to 2150 m2 and the sample can be divided into three groups: small < 80 m2; ≤ 200 m2 medium ≤ 500 m2; large off> 500 m2. The average percentage of species by home garden is 55.86% are grown for their nutritional values, 24,69%, for their medicinal values, however 20% are ornamental, ceremonial or used wooden shelter. There is a strong dominance (60%) to wide geographical distribution of species. These agricultural systems also contribute to preserve the environment. This study has permitted to identify strengths and constraints related to the creation of home gardens in this area.
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