Protected cultivation of vegetable crops in sub-Saharan Africa: limits and prospects for smallholders. A review

Nordey Thibault, Basset-Mens Claudine, De Bon Hubert, Martin Thibaud, Deletre Emilie, Simon Serge, Parrot Laurent, Despretz Hugo, Huat Joël, Biard Yannick, Dubois Thomas, Malézieux Eric. 2017. Protected cultivation of vegetable crops in sub-Saharan Africa: limits and prospects for smallholders. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 37 (6):e53, 20 p.

Résumé : Vegetable production in sub-Saharan Africa faces numerous agronomic constraints that will have to be overcome to feed the increasing population and to fight malnutrition. Technology transfer and the adoption of low-tech protected cultivation techniques affordable for smallholders are believed to be able to meet this challenge. Protected cultivation techniques are a set of agricultural practices aimed at artificializing the crop environment through the use of soil covers and/or plant covers to control pests and climatic conditions. Although protected cultivation techniques may increase the yield and quality of vegetable crops and extend their production periods worldwide, the transfer of these techniques in sub-Saharan Africa raises questions about their agronomical performances, their profitability but also their environmental impacts. Are low-tech protected cultivation techniques adapted to the sustainable production of vegetables by smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa? To answer this question, we present an overview of the agronomic, economic, and environmental performances of low-tech protected cultivation techniques in sub-Saharan Africa as reported in the literature. The major conclusions that can be drawn from the review are (1) low-tech protected cultivation techniques are not suitable in all climatic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa and need to be combined with other methods to ensure adequate pest control, (2) the profitability of protected cultivation techniques relies on the capacity to offset increased production costs by higher yields and higher selling prices to be obtained with off-season and/or higher quality products, (3) breaking with existing cropping systems, the lack of technical support and skills, and the limited access to investment funding are major obstacles to the adoption of protected cultivation techniques by smallholders (4) life cycle assessments conducted in northern countries suggested that more efficient use of agricultural inputs would offset the negative impacts of protected cultivation techniques if they are properly managed, but further studies are required to be sure these results can be extrapolated to sub-Saharan Africa context.

Mots-clés géographiques Agrovoc : Afrique au sud du Sahara

Classification Agris : F08 - Systèmes et modes de culture
E80 - Économie familiale et artisanale

Champ stratégique Cirad : Axe 1 (2014-2018) - Agriculture écologiquement intensive

Auteurs et affiliations

• Nordey Thibault, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (FRA)
• Basset-Mens Claudine, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (MTQ)
• De Bon Hubert, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (FRA)
• Martin Thibaud, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (KEN) ORCID: 0000-0002-4915-4436
• Deletre Emilie, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (KEN) ORCID: 0000-0002-0386-7326
• Simon Serge, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (SEN) ORCID: 0000-0001-8811-7809
• Parrot Laurent, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0001-5712-9305
• Despretz Hugo, World Vegetable Center (TZA)
• Huat Joël, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (MYT) ORCID: 0000-0002-8271-1652
• Biard Yannick, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0002-3974-3536
• Dubois Thomas, World Vegetable Center (TZA)
• Malézieux Eric, CIRAD-PERSYST-UPR HortSys (FRA) ORCID: 0000-0002-5706-9610

Source : Cirad-Agritrop (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/585832/)

Métriques

[ Page générée et mise en cache le 2024-12-18 ]