Enquêtes Ethnobotaniques et Caractérisation des Pratiques Endogènes de Gestion des Ravageurs sur Quelques Sites Maraîchers au Sud-Bénin

Abstract

One of the constraints related to vegetable production is the insect pests pressure. This work consisted of ethnobotanical surveys and characterization of endogenous pest management practices in a few gardening sites in southern Benin, as part of the formulation of botanical pesticides for the management of major gardening pests. This study is based on the socioeconomic characteristics of the surveyeds, the state of knowledge of the producer on gardening, constraints and methods of the crop control, and methods of the plant use. A survey quiz on the ethnobotanical study of plants and the characterization of endogenous pest management practices was developed and sent to 240 market gardeners over a period of three months (May 2018 to July 2018) for data collection. These data were subjected to a descriptive analysis and a principal component analysis. The study revealed that 12 species of vegetables are grown by market gardeners in the study area because of their rather short cycle and their preference by consumers. These vegetables are dominated by large nightshade, cabbage, tomato and carrot in terms of proportion. The use of unregistered synthetic pesticides for pest control remains the most widely used control method. The ethnobotanical knowledge collected on four plants namely: neem, moringa, papaya and tobacco, during our surveys are very rich but held by very few people, mostly aged at least 50 years (88,98 %). These plants are divided into four families (Caricaceae, Moringaceae, Meliaceae, Solanaceae) whose Meliaceae are the most used. The most used plant parts are leaves and seeds. This collection of plants indicated by market gardeners in the fight against vegetable crop pests can constitute a database for biological tests and phytochemical analyzes.