Building capacity for sustainable baobab leaves production in Benin

Food and nutritional insecurity are recurrent issues in traditional systems in sub- Saharan Africa and especially in Benin. As part of contribution to efforts against challenges of food and nutritional insecurity, this project focuses on “promoting environmentally friendly practices for sustainable baobab leaves production for food and nutritional security in smallholders farming systems in Benin”. The project is implemented with support from the Regional Universities Forum for capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) and was designed to train graduate and undergraduate students, faculty as well as communities. This project aims to design cost-effective, environmentally-friendly and sustainable method of baobab leaf production for food and nutritional security in smallholders farming systems in three bio-geographical zones in the Republic of Benin. The team will assess the effect and dose of organic manure (compost versus animal excrement), density of sowing and frequencies of leaves’ harvesting on the seedling growth and leaves biomass. This research feeds into earlier research and will particularly contribute to enhanced use of environmentally friendly practices.