In 1987, an improved resource management system that incorporates velvet bean
(Mucuna pruriens var. utilis) to address soil fertility and weed (Imperata cylindrica)
infestation was introduced to the small-scale farmers in a densely populated area of the
derived savannas in Benin Republic (West Africa). Six years later, an adoption study
was conducted to assess factors driving the adoption process. Four types of land tenure
systems based on mode of access to land were identified: divided inheritance, purchasing,
gifts, and sharecropping/renting. The first three provide long-term security over land,
and together, they represent about 76 percent of the survey fields. Results from three
variants of a probit model indicated that security over land was among the factors that
significantly affect the adoption of the technology, with a high marginal effect on the
probability of adoption, while gender did not have a significant effect. The most
important determinant for adoption is the number of times a field is weeded during a
cropping season (a proxy for the amount of labor required to tend a crop for better
yields). High weeding requirements favorably affect the adoption of velvet bean only if
farmers have full security on the degraded (weedy) land. The predominance of land
tenure systems that provide secure property rights, namely the traditional acquisition of
land through inheritance or gift mode and the gradual development of a land market,
facilitated a quick spread of the Mucuna planted fallows in the study region
