Strategies d’adaptation des riziculteurs aux effets du changement climatique dans la Commune de Malanville au Benin

Le secteur agricole pourvoyeur de ressources financières et alimentaires est confronté à de nombreux problèmes dont les perturbations naturelles inhérentes au changement climatique. L’étude a analysé les manifestations du changement climatique sur la production du riz et les stratégies d’adaptation développées par les riziculteurs au Nord Bénin. Des données ont été recueillies auprès de 80 riziculteurs dans deux arrondissements de la commune de Malanville au Nord Bénin. Les analyses ont été faites au moyen des statistiques descriptives, des tests statistiques et une regression logistique qui a permis d’estimer les déterminants de l’adoption des stratégies d’adaptation des riziculteurs. Les résultats révèlent que 100% des riziculteurs remarquent les manifestations du changement climatique. Ces manifestations se traduisent par l’augmentation des précipitations/ inondations, le retard des pluies et les vents violents. En réponse à ces changements, les riziculteurs adoptent différentes stratégies dont les plus répandues sont l’utilisation des semences améliorées, la culture de contre saison et le drainage des eaux excédentaires. L’éducation formelle, le nombre d’année d’expérience dans la riziculture, la superficie exploitée, la superficie allouée à la riziculture, l’appartenance à un groupement et l’accès au crédit agricole ont un effet positif et significatif sur la décision des riziculteurs à s’adapter au changement climatique. English title: rice farmers’ adaptation strategies to climate change effects in the Municipality of Malanville in Benin Abstract The agricultural sector, which provides financial and food resources, is facing many challenges including the natural disturbances due to climate change. This paper has analyzed the manifestations of climate change on rice production and the adaptation strategies developed by rice farmers in Northern Benin. Data have been collected from 80 rice farmers in two villages of the districts of Malanville in Benin. These data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, statistical tests and regression to identify the factors influencing adaptation strategies adoption by farmers. The results show that 100% of rice farmers noticed the manifestations of climate change. These events are reflected in increased rainfall / flooding, delayed rains, strong wind blowing during the rainy season, poor distribution of rains. In response to these changes, rice farmers adopted different adaptation strategies such as the use of improved seeds, off-season cultivation, changing sowing dates, drainage of excess water and varietal adaptation. Formal education, the number of years of experience in rice production, the area farmed, the area allocated to rice production, the farmer’s organization membership, the participation in agricultural training and access to agricultural credit have positive and significant effects on the decision of rice farmers to adapt to climate change manifestations. Keywords: Climate changes, adaptation strategies, rice production, Malanville, Beni

Dynamics of conflict in participatory forest management in Benin : a framing perspective

Benin’s protected areas were created during the colonial period between 1940 and 1960. The colonial administration established them by confiscating rural land and putting it under government control without the consent of the local communities, who considered that their land had been expropriated. From the time that they were created until the early 1990s, these protected areas were managed solely by government officials. Local communities were considered as undesirable in the management of these resources and were kept away from them by force and repression. Many conflicts set the forest rangers and local communities in opposition to each other in relation to access to, and use of, the resources in the protected areas. This management system also proved to be inefficient in terms of conservation of these protected areas, where degradation increased over time.Participatory management of protected areas was enacted in Beninin 1993. After a seemingly promising start of participatory management efforts, conflicts have re-emerged in many protected areas. This makes it relevant to gain a better understanding of why and how such conflicts emerge. Three cases of conflict in participatory management of protected areas were investigated. A framing perspective was used in order to develop a better understanding of conflict in such settings. The various cases studied show that the idea that conflicts in natural resources management occur when there are disagreements and disputes regarding access to, and management of, the natural resources is only one side of the story. The thesis indicates that conflict about natural resources management are not only about bio-physical resources; symbolic resources, including social status, moral values, trust and other identity-related issues, play decisive roles as well. In this line of thought, the thesis shows that the co-construction and the dynamics of the social identities of the stakeholders involved in natural resources management tended to reinforce conflicts in the different cases. In addition, the thesis demonstrates that trust is an important variable in the participatory management of natural resources. It makes clear that trust is not a static state or a given characteristic of a relationship, but must be regarded as highly dynamic and constantly negotiated over time. The thesis also makes clear that formal institutions provide the initial framework for legitimate action and become intertwined with informal institutions that become decisive in the achievement of the objectives of the process. However, although formal and informal institutions are both important and can reinforce each other, the intertwining of formal and informal institutions may result in problems and conflict, especially when there is discontinuity and turn-over with regard to participants. A final cross-cutting conclusion is that conflicts are gradually co-constructed by stakeholders in discourse. In everyday conversation, people create realities that become a source of conflict. An important practical implication of the study is that those involved in facilitating community-based forest management should develop better concepts and strategies to ‘manage’ and facilitate inter-human processes. Framing analysis helps to identify inter-human processes and dynamics that are easily overlooked but are critically important in shaping the course and outcomes of participatory processes. Keywords: Participation, conflict, framing, interpretive approach, discourse, case-study, trust, institutions, social cohesion, social identity, protected areas, Benin.</p

Mecanismes de financement des fournisseurs des noix d’anacarde aux unites de transformation dans le nord Benin

La filière anacarde figure parmi les filières à forte valeur ajoutée au Bénin. Cette valeur ajoutée est généralement créée par l’exportation des noix brutes et non leur transformation. Cette étude se propose d’analyser les mécanismes de financement des fournisseurs des noix d’anacarde aux unités de transformation dans le nord Bénin. Les données ont été collectées auprès de 243 acteurs soit 240 producteurs et 03 unités de transformation dans les communes de Tchaourou, Nikki et Bembéréké. Ces communes sont des zones où au moins deux unités s’approvisionnent ensemble en noix d’anacarde. L’échantillonnage a été raisonné. Une régression logistique a été réalisée pour déterminer les facteurs influençant l’accès aux crédits. La statistique descriptive a permis d’apprécier la perception des producteurs de noix par rapport aux conditions d’accès au financement. Les résultats révèlent que les producteurs ont accès à deux services de crédit: Agri Finance et PADME. La quantité de noix vendue par la coopérative à laquelle appartient le producteur, l’ethnie, la vente de noix à l’unité Gebana et la vente de noix à l’unité Afokantan déterminent l’accès au crédit. Les producteurs ont souvent des difficultés à rembourser le crédit octroyé auprès d’Agri Finance contrairement au crédit de PADME.Mots-clés : Financement Agricole, Unité de transformation, Noix d’anacarde, Nord Bénin Financing mechanisms of cashew nuts suppliers to processing units in northern BeninThe cashew nut sector is one of the high value-added sectors in Benin. This value is predominantly created by the export of raw nuts and not their processing on place. This study aims to analyze the financing mechanisms of suppliers of cashew nuts to processing units in northern Benin. Data were collected from 243 actors either 240 producers and 03 processing units in the cities of Tchaourou, Nikki and Bembereke. These cities are areas where at least two units are supplied with cashew nuts from the same providers. The sampling was reasoned. A logistic regression was performed to determine the factors influencing access to credit. The use of descriptive statistic allowed to assess the perception of nut producers with regard to the conditions of access to financing. The results reveal that cashew nuts providers have access to two services of credit: Agri Finance and PADME. Variables such as the quantity of nuts sold by the cooperative they belong to, the ethnic group, the sale of nuts to the ‘’Gebana» unit and the sale of nuts to the Afokantan unit determine access to credit. Producers often have difficulty repaying the credit granted to Agri Finance, unlike the PADME credit.Keywords: Agricultural financing, Processing unit, Cashew nuts, Northern Beni

Determinants of cocoa farmer’s participation in the innovation platform of the humidtropics programme in Southwestern Nigeria

Open Access JournalIn an effort to determine factors influencing cocoa farmer’s participation in innovation platform (IP) activities of the Humidtropics programme, data was collected from purposively selected 177 farmers using multistage technique sampling technique and was gathered through the use of structured interview schedule. Data were collected and analyzed with percentage, frequency counts, mean, standard deviation and factor analysis. The study shows the mean age of the cocoa farmers in the IP to be 51.16±12.64 with about 52% aged above 50 years, female were only (23.73%), with more than 75th percentile literacy level and only about 31% of respondents generate annual income from farming above ₦50,000 while about 70% made below ₦40,000 extra income from other occupation. The mean farm size was 16.87 ±16.04 acre, farming experience 25.42±10.48 years and household size was 9.78±5.52. The six significant determinants of cocoa farmer’s participation in IP arranged in order of magnitude are psychological factor (λ = 3.158), experience factor (λ = 2.164), community related factor (λ = 1.697) educational factor (λ = 1.854), economic factor (λ =1.438) and internal factor (λ = 1.113). The summative effect of the identified factors accounted for 76.17 % variation observed in cocoa farmer’s participation in the IP

Discourses of conflict and collaboration and institutional context in the implementation of forest conservation policies in Soria, Spain

This article examines the emergence of conflict and collaboration in the implementation of forest conservation policies in Soria, Spain. We draw insights from discursive institutionalism and use a comparative case study approach to analyse and compare a situation of social conflict over the Natural Park declaration in the Sierra de Urbión, and a civil society led collaborative process to develop management plans for the “Sierra de Cabrejas” in Soria. The implementation of the EU Habitats Directive generated different outcomes in these two cases, which unfolded in the context of the same nature conservation legislation and national and provincial administrative structures but differed in terms of types of forests involved, property rights arrangements and forest use histories. We critically examine the influence of the institutional context and dominant discourses on the emergence of outcomes: conflict emerged where local institutions and discourses were threatened by the EU directive, while collaboration was possible where local institutions and counter-discourses were weak. We find that the institutional context plays an important part in determining local discourses in the implementation of forest conservation policies. Yet local counter-discourses have limited influence in the implementation and policy processes in the face of contestation by the discourses of regional civil servants conservation activists

UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT’S DYNAMICS IN PARTICIPATORY NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT: A CRITICAL REVIEW

Contains fulltext : 184330.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

From cohesion to conflict in participatory forest management: The case of Ouémé Supérieur and N'Dali (OSN) forests in Benin

Community-based natural resources management (CBNRM) was introduced in Benin in the early 1990s. Because of the initially positive results, the Forest Department decided to continue and scale up this participatory approach to all Benin's protected areas. Focusing on the relationships between the actors involved, this paper seeks to explain the dynamics of the participatory management process in the Ouémé Supérieur and N'Dali forests in Northern Benin. The analysis is based on data gathered from interviews with the different actors involved. The study shows that social cohesion between people involved in CBNRM, the Forest Rangers and local communities was built at the beginning of the process, but then disappeared and was followed by conflict. Stakeholders interpreted and made sense of formally declared participatory management rules (formal institutions) and gradually developed informal relationships, rules and routines (informal institutions) that facilitated the collaboration process and resulted in social cohesion. Conflicts and distrust emerged when replacement CBNRM officers did not respect the informal rules of conduct. The case shows that it is the state of informal rules and relationships that determines the success of a collaborative process rather than formally declared institutions; hence this should be recognized