3 research outputs found
STATUS OF VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION OF BAOBAB: A REVIEW
The African baobab ( Adansonia digitata L.) is a large tree of great
socio-economic and cultural importance in Africa, with almost all the
parts of the species used for various purposes. A major concern about
baobab fruit pulp production is the long time it takes for first
fruiting (about 15 years). Vegetative propagation offers several
advantages with regard to consumers\u2019 preferences and
precociousness of fructification. The objective of this study was to
synthesise existent knowledge related to vegetative propagation methods
of baobab and examine future prospects for improving the species
propagation. This will ultimately contribute to better integrate
baobab-based agroforestry systems into the diversification and poverty
alleviation programmes. It is clear that cutting, grafting and in vitro
multiplication are the vegetative propagation methods already tested on
baobab. The success of grafting methods ranges from 10 to 89%,
depending on the technique used. The Murashige and Skoog environment,
supplemented with or without growth regulator hormones is by far the
best condition for the in vitro reactivity of baobab explants,
regardless of their types. With regards to cuttings, the average
success rates stand around 30% when Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) hormone
is used. Other approaches such as marcotting techniques are yet to be
tested and data on fruit production using these techniques are still
needed in order to determine the best promising method for rapid and
efficient vegetative propagation of baobab.Adansonia digitata L. est un grand arbre d\u2019importance
socio-\ue9conomique et culturelle en Afrique. Toutes les parties de
l\u2019arbre sont utilis\ue9es \ue0 diverses fins. L\u2019une des
principales pr\ue9occupations concernant la pulpe de baobab est le
temps n\ue9cessaire \ue0 la premi\ue8re fructification de
l\u2019arbre (environ 15 ans). La multiplication v\ue9g\ue9tative
pr\ue9sente plusieurs avantages en ce qui concerne les
pr\ue9f\ue9rences des consommateurs et permet la
pr\ue9cocit\ue9 de fructification. Ce travail a
synth\ue9tis\ue9 les connaissances actuelles sur les m\ue9thodes
de propagation v\ue9g\ue9tative du baobab et a discut\ue9 des
perspectives futures pour l\u2019int\ue9gration des syst\ue8mes
agroforestiers \ue0 base de baobab dans les programmes de
diversification agricole et de r\ue9duction de la pauvret\ue9. Les
r\ue9sultats ont montr\ue9 que le bouturage, le greffage et la
multiplication in vitro sont les m\ue9thodes de multiplication
v\ue9g\ue9tative d\ue9j\ue0 test\ue9es sur le baobab \ue0
ce jour. Le succ\ue8s du greffage varie de 10 \ue0 89% selon la
technique de greffage utilis\ue9e. L\u2019environnement Murashige
and Skoog compl\ue9t\ue9 avec ou sans phytohormones de croissance
est \ue0 l\u2019heure actuelle la meilleure condition pour la
r\ue9activit\ue9 in vitro des explants de baobab, quels que soient
leurs types. En ce qui concerne le bouturage, le taux de r\ue9ussite
moyen s\u2019\ue9levait \ue0 30% avec utilisation de
l\u2019hormone Acide Indole-3-butyrique (IBA). D\u2019autres
approches telles que la technique du marcottage a\ue9rien devront
\ueatre test\ue9es. Aussi, les donn\ue9es sur la production de
fruits issus de ces techniques sont n\ue9cessaires. Ces informations
permettront de d\ue9terminer la meilleure m\ue9thode \ue0
recommander pour une propagation v\ue9g\ue9tative rapide et
efficace du baobab
Gendered motivation for home gardening and maintenance of agrobiodiversity: a case study in Benin, west Africa
Home gardening is a commonly encountered agricultural practice in Benin, consisting of cultivating or maintaining desired plant around homesteads. While the multiple ecosystem services they provided to population is widely acknowledged, motivation for home gardening is still poorly understood in Benin. This study aims at elucidating the daunting question of motivation for home gardening in Benin focusing on gender and how this motivation affects the capacity of home gardens to maintain agro-biodiversity. 360 households with home gardens participated to the study through interview and garden inventories. Clustering analysis, correlation and regressions were used to distinguish and discriminate home gardens with regard to their driven motivation, explore the discrepancies across gender and assess the relationship between plant species diversity and motivation of gardeners. Findings showed that food and medicinal plant production were the main motivations of home gardens in Benin. Food production was the main motivation of women while men were mostly motivated for medicinal plant production. Home gardeners mostly men were also found to have multiple motivations for gardening. Home gardens with medicinal, both medicinal and food and with multiple motivations were found to have higher plant species richness. This study suggests that the motivation of home gardeners is a key driver of the maintenance of agrobiodiversity in home gardens.Keywords: Home gardens ; Motivation ; Agro-biodiversity ; Conservation, Beni
Explaining the positioning of agricultural entrepreneurs on the necessity-opportunity continuum in sub-Saharan Africa: insights from Benin
Despite the potential of agriculture to reduce unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa, research on agricultural entrepreneurship is scarce, especially regarding the entrepreneurs’ motivations. The aim of this research is to examine the intensity of necessity and opportunity motivations among agricultural entrepreneurs and the influence of socioeconomic characteristics, personality, and environmental factors. Hence, the study reports a survey of 819 agricultural entrepreneurs in Benin and uses multinomial logistic regressions. Most agricultural entrepreneurs are moderately necessity-driven (76%); the remainder includes highly necessity-driven entrepreneurs (4%), moderately opportunity-driven entrepreneurs (6%), and highly opportunity-driven entrepreneurs (14%). Those displaying higher intensity of necessity motivations can be at any education level, are former employees, are less proactive, less optimistic, and operate in the services sector. In contrast, highly opportunity-driven entrepreneurs are likely to have received a university education and agricultural professional training, operate in the services sector, and have better access to finance and technologies. This study advances the push-pull theory by revealing a richer set of entrepreneurial motivations beyond the simplistic dichotomic view. Hence, policymakers could devise entrepreneurship strategies and programs that consider the diverse motivations of entrepreneurs and the influencing factors to move them toward increased opportunity entrepreneurship