Contribution of Multiple Cropping Systems to Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in the Municipality of Abomey-Calavi in Southern Benin

Abstract

In the world at large, while agricultural yields are increasing with constant land area, in Sub-Saharan Africa, more land is needed to increase production. In this region of Africa, agriculture therefore remains essentially extensive and contributes to environmental degradation, especially deforestation. Thus, the objective of this research is to assess and compare the quantities of greenhouse gases produced by multiple and mono-specific cropping systems. To this end, the quantity of greenhouse gases (GHG) produced by several cropping systems installed on an experimental farm in Kpotomey in the municipality of Abomey-Calavi (Benin) was estimated. The estimation of GHG quantities was made on the basis of IPCC work and data from the experiments carried out. Comparisons were made between mono-specific crops and multiple crops. The results show that the quantities of GHG emitted per ton of production are more or less identical and vary on average from 0.6 to 0.11 teqCO2. However, the advantage of multiple cropping systems is that they reduce the clearing of new land and thus avoid about 31.5 tons of CO2 if the plant formation to be replaced was a forest. Multiple cropping with moderate fertilization in the presence of organic matter increases production while preserving the environment.