ABSTRACT
The actions for the development of rice cultivation began
since pre-colonial and continued until independence in Benin. The huge
investments in rice production made by the government have been unsuccessful.
The goals had no link with the socioeconomic and cultural expectations of the
population. Rice is a commodity that is becoming increasingly important in both
rural and urban household consumption structure. Consumption and production
have increased over time and showed growing deficit that require an urgent
resort to importations. Importations have taken an extensive growth due to the
inability of production to meet local needs. This situation persists although
the country has a sufficiently large potential in natural resources for rice
production. To overcome this gap and strengthen the economies of small rice
farmers and the country, a better development of these resources become
imperative. Water is known as an important production factor for rice
cultivation. Its use should be rational in these times of climate change.
Moreover, irrigation systems, as small as they can be, have a little impact on
farmer's health. In order to analyze the rice farming systems and assess health
risks associated, this study was initiated. It was conducted in the town of
Malanville and covered 180 households in three rice categories namely, the
large producers, medium producers and small producers. During the data
analysis, these producers have been grouped according to their production
systems. This study was specifically designed to: characterize the types of
irrigation and indirectly the farming systems; evaluate the relationship
existing between the yield of each system and type of irrigation and identify
the determinants of the households' morbidity. The main analysis tools used
are: statistics descriptive, the principal component analysis, Analysis of
Variance, the Khi square test of Pearson, t test of Student and the binary
Logit regression. At the end of the study, it appears that there are three rice
farming systems: the irrigated system (total control of water), the flooded
system (partial control of the water) and the upland system (without water
control). The yields of each farming system are significantly different at 5%.
The irrigated rice farming system is the most advantageous while the upland
system has the lowest yields. The difference between yield production systems
is explained at 5% by the type of irrigation. As far as health risks are
concerned, a household has at least one worker ill during a productive season.
Malaria has the highest prevalence followed by skin pathology. Factors
determining the level of morbidity at the 5% are the number of active
agricultural, the residential distance from the farm; wearing boots, the type
of rice and duration of work in rice paddies. These factors are positively
correlated with the morbidity of farm households. It should be noted that the
system of upland rice has a prevalence rate significantly low compared to other
systems. All the rice farming systems provide a relatively high income to
farmers but have significant impacts on human health. The most
efficient system in terms of health risks is the upland system, but it provides
the lowest income to producers. These different results suggest:
- Development of other irrigated areas for intensification of
rice production due to the profitability obtained;
- Maintenance of irrigation canals by farmers;
- Awareness of farmers for wearing boots and use of mosquito
nets;
- Training of producers in the rice crop cycle and the water
needs of the plant. This will allow better use of water resources.
- Installation of units of care for malaria sufferers.
Keywords: Farming
system, morbidity, malaria, rice growing, irrigation.
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