Biostimulant to boost farmers income and soil quality in Benin

Eleven percent of Benin's population is deemed to be at risk of food insecurity (WFP 2017). Maize, cultivated by more than one million producers across the country, is a staple food, accounting for 76% of the nation’s cereal production. (DSA-MAEP 2022). Due to population growth and the associated food demands (for both human and animal consumption), the demand for maize is increasing.

At the same time, soil quality is deteriorating, and maize yields, which were 1.2 tons per hectare in 2021, are insufficient to meet the targets set by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries, which aimed for 2.5 tons per hectare in 2021 (DSA-MAEP, 2021).

This situation results in a strong dependency of agricultural systems on mineral inputs (Saïdou et al., 2022), whose poorly regulated use leads to consequences for soil quality degradation, food product quality, and public health risks (Yang et al., 2004 ; Viollet, 2010).

Indeed, soils are regarded as dynamic systems rich in a variety of micro-organisms (bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi), which need to be carefully preserved for soil sustainability. Large-scale use of chemical inputs depletes or even eliminates certain valuable micro-organisms from most farmed soils, thereby diminishing their productivity (Alamri et al., 2016).

In response to these effects, sustainable alternatives are surfacing and gaining prominence, such as biofertilizers (Thonar et al., 2017; Agbodjato et al., 2016), which stimulate soil regeneration and boost soil sustainability.

The NGO CREDEL and its partners have come up with an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus (AMF) biostimulant adapted to various crops including maize, which helps increase productivity and restore soil fertility (Assogba et al., 2017). Building on the various rounds of research through laboratory, station, greenhouse and field experiments under researcher management, CREDEL and its partners are now looking to conduct field tests managed by farmers (producers) to test the biostimulant, a technology designed and adapted for maize cultivation.

The aim of the project is to validate findings from the various experimental phases in order to generate evidence of impact among 200 small-scale corn farmers in four communes in southern Benin.

The project deliverable is to demonstrate that an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus-based biostimulant can restore fertility to Benin's farmlands, thereby uplifting the yields and incomes of small-scale farmers and thereby boosting the country's food and nutritional security.

This theory of change is substantiated by early laboratory and field trials of the product, which demonstrated improved maize seedling growth of between 18% and 80.5%, and higher yields of between 32% and 109.5% when compared with control seedlings.