Palm Oil Mill Solid Waste Generation and Uses in Rural Area in Benin Republic: Retrospection and Future Outlook

Palm oil is one of the major oil crops in the world, producing important vegetable oils in the world oil and fats market. Its production generates solid wastes whose sustainable management is crucial for the oil chain development in oil palm producing countries. Benin Republic is a small oil palm producing country where oil palm plays social, cultural, and economic roles for farmers. This chapter analyzes the linkage between improvement of palm oil process extraction and palm oil mill solid waste (POMSW) management for sustainable palm oil production. Composed mainly of fibers, the two kinds of POMSW are empty fruit bunches (EFBs) and press mesocarp fibers (PMFs), which are rich in units’ fertilizers and are renewable energy. POMSW in Benin Republic is used in agriculture, in cosmetic, or as energy. The upgrade of traditional mills generates POMSW use as a boiler fuel to reducing wood necessity and increasing farm profit. As this use is not sustainable, research must be made to generate electricity with POMSW and its use for crop fertilization, to ensure environment protection, enhance contribution to food security, restore degraded soils, and increase earnings of producers of rural areas

DRIS model parameterization to access pineapple variety Smooth Cayenne nutrient status in Benin (West Africa)

Nutritional diagnosis is an important tool for increasing fruit yield and fruit quality through efficient fertilization management. The aim of the study is to investigate whether there are specific DRIS norms for pineapple ‘Smooth Cayenne’ for a better soil fertility management in Benin. A preliminary Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS) norms for ‘Smooth Cayenne’ pineapple growing in plantations of the township of Allada (Benin) are presented. DRIS norms were established from a data bank of leaf nutrient concentration (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and Zn)and fruit yield with 60 samples gathered from farmers’ plantations. The data were divided into high-yielding (>88 t/ha) and low-yielding (

Cultivation of Cowpea Challenges in West Africa for Food Security: Analysis of Factors Driving Yield Gap in Benin

Feeding the world in 2050 requires us to find ways to boost yields of the main local crops. Among those crops, cowpea is one of the grain legumes that is playing an important role in the livelihood of millions of people in West Africa, especially in Benin. Unfortunately, cowpea on-farm yields are very low. In order to understand the main factors explaining cowpea yield gaps, we collected and analyzed detailed survey data from 298 cowpea fields in Benin during the 2017, 2018 and 2019′s rainy seasons, respectively. Composite soil samples were collected from cowpea fields and analyzed in the laboratory. Data on farm field management practices and field conditions were recorded through interviews with 606 farmers. Average cowpea grain yields were low and seldom surpassed 700 kg ha−1 on farmer’s fields. Significant differences were observed between cowpea grain yields from northern to southern Benin (p < 0.05), and the lowest yields were observed in northern Benin. These low yields are related to crop management practices, soil nutrient contents, and the interaction of both. According to the model of regression tree from northern to southern Benin, the use of mineral fertilizer, insecticide sprays to control pests, and the improvement of phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium (P, N, K) and cation sum content in the topsoil would increase cowpea grain yields. Insect pests, diseases, and soil fertility decline are the largest constraints limiting grain yield in Benin. Future research should focus on formulating site-specific fertilizer recommendations for effective cowpea cultivation in Benin, as well as the control of insect pests and diseases

Assessment of Nutritional Status of Rainfed Rice in Benin Using Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS)

The fertilizer used in Benin by rainfed rice farmers, doesn’t meet the required expectation because of lack of many essential agronomic information to formulate the appropriate nutrient compositions. Despite all the advances in improvement of rice production, its yields in traditional cropping systems are very low and the only inputs of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium do not effectively increase rice yields. The purpose of this study was to assess nutritional status of rainfed rice crops in Benin. The study covered the rainfed rice production areas of Benin Center where 72 leaves samples were taken on 3600 plants from the farmer fields. The concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc were determined in leaves samples. The preliminary DRIS (Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System) norms for the rainfed rice growing in the Benin center were selected for various nutrient ratios obtained from the high yield population of the rainfed rice crop. The yields of the two subpopulations were significantly different (p < .0001). The nutrient requirement for the rainfed rice production was ranked as N> Fe> Zn>K>Mg>P>Ca. The DRIS-derived sufficiency ranges for N, P, K, Ca and Mg from the nutrient indexing survey of the rainfed rice plants grown in Benin center were 1.91-3.66, 0.30-0.64, 2.00-3.89, 0.37-1.05 and 0.18-0.38g kg-1 respectively. The limits for Fe and Zn were 89.27-206.3 and 8.21-24.91 mg kg-1 respectively. On the basis of sufficiency ranges, 4.22, 57.75, 66.20, 56.34, 45.07, 46.50 and 29.57% of samples were low in N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Zn respectively. The DRIS norms put emphasis on nutrient balance and help to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy rice plants from the nutrition status. However, it needed further researches to determine the amount of the fertilizers to supply in order to maintain nutrient balance