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Green Manure/Cover Crop Systems of Smallholder Farmers pp 237–261Cite as

Integrating Mucuna in the Maize-based Systems of Southern Benin

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Summary

Resource-conserving technologies are urgently needed in West Africa and the Republic of Benin, where population density is high and soil fertility is fast decreasing. In the late 1980s, a development-oriented research project, Recherche Appliquée en Milieu Réel (Applied Research On-farm) of the Beninoise government’s Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin (National Agricultural Research Institute), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and the Royal Tropical Institute of the Netherlands initiated on-farm demonstrations and trials with Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. Farmer adoption followed as a response to its ability to suppress Imperata cylindrica (L.) Raeusch. and to maintain soil fertility in the maize (Zea mays L.)-based systems of the region. As a result, several organizations initiated extension efforts. They included the government’s extension organization, Centre ďAction Régionale pour le Développement and Sasakawa-Global 2000. Farmers of the region utilized two maize-Mucuna systems: sole-cropped Mucuna short fallow (particularly in areas with severe Imperata infestation) and maize-Mucuna relay intercropping (in most fields). The relatively scant on-farm data on Mucuna biomass production and impacts on maize yield, and the impressions of those familiar with the systems, suggest that Mucuna grows well in the region, exerts positive impacts on maize yield and reduces Imperata infestation. Many farmers (3000 in 1993 and 10 000 in 1996) began testing Mucuna in their fields. Strong support from the extension organizations included free seed and a market to sell seed as well as linking Mucuna to a maize-production technology package. More recently, estimated adoption and utilization rates have been lower and by 2002, sustained adoption rates for Mucuna in the region are clearly low. Because of the good knowledge base and biophysical performance of Mucuna in the area, niches for its inclusion in the region’s cropping systems should be found.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Nigeria

    R. J. Carsky

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  1. M. Eilittä
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  2. A. Etèka
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  3. R. J. Carsky
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Marjatta Eilittä Joseph Mureithi Rolf Derpsch

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© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Eilittä, M., Etèka, A., Carsky, R.J. (2004). Integrating Mucuna in the Maize-based Systems of Southern Benin. In: Eilittä, M., Mureithi, J., Derpsch, R. (eds) Green Manure/Cover Crop Systems of Smallholder Farmers. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2051-1_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2051-1_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-2045-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2051-3

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