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The main objective of this study was to contribute to a better knowledge of the vegetable farm types in the centre of Benin and made inventory of the different irrigation techniques used in the area.To achieve this objective, one hundred and three market gardeners from Zangnanado and Covè were interviewed. Mean comparison tests were carried out to see whether or not there was significant difference between age, household size, and experience in vegetable gardening and the market garden farm size of the two municipalities. Also, Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Ascending Hierarchical Classification were performed to classify the gardenfarms in thestudy area. The results shown that there was a significant difference (P ˂ 5%) for the garden farm sizes betweenZangnanado (0.73±0.35 ha)and Covè (0.35±0.45 ha). As far as water management is
concerned, the results revealed that for irrigation, market gardeners use watering cans, bowls, manual sprinkling and motorized sprinkling. As for the typology of market gardening farms, it revealed six types of vegetable farms, each one with some specificity.. The vegetable farms classified in the types 1, 2, 4 and 5 are those which produce only local vegetables with manual irrigation technologies. As for the type 3 and 6, they produce both local and exotic vegetables with manual irrigation and/or motorized technologies. |