TITLE:
Urban Market-Gardening in Parakou (Republic of Benin): Spatial Dynamics, Food Security, Protection of the Environment and Creation of Employments
AUTHORS:
Abdoul-Ramane Abdoulaye, Aboudou Yacoubou Mama Aboudou Ramanou
KEYWORDS:
Urban Agriculture, Food Security, Market-Gardening Channel, Land Dynamics, Protection of the Environment, Employment, Parakou
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.3 No.5,
July
28,
2015
ABSTRACT: Nowadays, African cities are subjected to
upsets which result from the extraordinary growth of urban populations. The
growth of the population of cities has induced some changes in the structure of
the activity of those cities. Agriculture which was formerly confined to the
countryside henceforth develops in the urban area and occupies a preponderant
place as a strategy of survival, of insertion and of food supplying of the
city-dwellers. It has become an activity integrated to the urban tissue through
systems of occupying and exploitation of land in the urban area. Population
growth (4.81%) between 2002 and 2013 is a critical poverty rate (65%) of the
population of Parakou city, entailing a misery perceptible in all its social
and economic dimensions. The market-gardening activity has integrated itself
to the urban tissue. The objective of this study is to understand how urban
agriculture through market-gardening can be a solution for rural farmers who
have moved to Parakou city. In this study, documentary research, interviews and
field observation are used for data collection. The main results to be signaled
among others are: evolution and status of the market-gardening areas in
Parakou, the reduction of food insecurity with the permanent availability in
quantity and in quality of market-gardening products accessible to the
population: the protection of the environment through the drainage of the urban
area and the preservation of the diversity of vegetables; the increase of the
income of the households of the farmers and the creation of employments.