Agricultural production and environmental degradation in the district of Barei (Djougou municipality)

Abstract

This research is a contribution to a better knowledge of agricultural practices and their effects on the environment in the district of Barei (Djougou Municipality). The methods adopted consisted of literature search, direct field observations and surveys made beside 86 agricultural households. The results of this study show that there are several modes of access to land, namely inheritance (70%), borrowing (25%), and donation (5%). In addition, the identification of the different types of soils makes it possible to determine the dominant crop in the study environment. The cultivation skills of ferruginous soils and denatured ferralitic soils offer favorable conditions for cereal crops and tubers (yams and cassava). In addition, in the study area, land is overexploited. This has led to increasing deforestation (55%) in this district (use of agricultural land varies from 10 to 16 years and that of fallow land from 02 to 06 years) and resource depletion (40%). Thus, to combat land degradation and adapt to the unavailability of agricultural land, producers practise crop rotation, crops association, the use of chemical fertilizers and organic manure to fertilize the soil.