Abstract

In the municipality of Abomey-Calavi in the Department of the Atlantic in South Benin, home gardens constitute at least 35% of the families' monthly sources of food, fruit, poultry and pigs. 43 home gardens were visited and 30 were selected by reasoned choice for the survey itself. The objective of this study is to show the contribution of these home gardens to the food security of rural populations. The data concerned the size, floristic composition, phytogeographical distribution, the years of creation of home gardens, the various uses of plants, the incomes brought by plants such as bananas, palm trees, coconut trees and teak. Individual structured interviews were used to interview households. Indices of diversity such as Shannon-Wiener and Jaccard have made it possible to categorize these home gardens and to specify their biological richness. The size of these gardens ranges from 200 m² to 8300 m². The average percentage of species grown in home garden is 55% for their nutritional values, 29% for their medicinal values, 7% for the wood and energy needs of the populations. Half of the species found, have a wide geographical distribution. Income from these agrosystems sometimes cover partially or totally the children's school fees. This study has therefore shown the importance of home gardens in the municipality of Abomey-Calavi in a context of climate variability and increasingly pronounced demographic pressure on natural resources.

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