Farmers' perceptions and the dynamics of adoption of a resource management technology: the case of Mucuna fallow in southern Benin, West Africa

Concern about the increasing degradation of natural resources in developing-country agriculture has led to the development of improved systems that make use of biological processes to promote production in a sustainable manner. The paper uses a case study on the adoption of mucuna (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis, a leguminous cover crop) in 4 villages in Mono department, Benin, to examine the farmers' perceptions and dynamics in the adoption of such improved systems. The use of mucuna fallows is being introduced as an alternative to hedgerow (alley) cropping technology for restoring soil fertility in the area, since the latter has been taken up very poorly. Small-scale farmers ranked mucuna fallow (grown either as sole crop or in relay cropping with an annual crop such as maize) more highly than chemical fertilizers because of its weed control effect, long-term improvement of soil fertility, low cost, and ease of availability at the village level. The grass roots extension organizations played a significant role in the dissemination of mucuna technology. The removal of incentives to adopt did not adversely affect the trends in the spread of the technology. However, farmers consider insecure land tenure a constraint to adoption for (even) this non-perennial species (land tenure has already been identified as a constraint to the adoption of alley cropping).