Water erosion threatens large agricultural areas in Benin. This study dealing with the effect of personal household’s attributes and field physical characteristics on erosion control practices was carried out in the watershed of Zou. A total of 390 farmers distributed in six were randomly sampled. Questionnaires, interview, focus group discussion and field observation were used as the main data collection technics. It allowed to collect sociodemographic and institutional characteristics and have a view on the effectiveness of the erosion control practices adoption. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic and logistic regression. Ridging parallel to the slope (40.77% in adoption); mulching (11.03% in adoption); isohypse ridging (16.67% in adoption) and no-tillage (8.46 in adoption) were inventoried as soil erosion control practices on the watershed. It appears that that the household’s sociodemographic and institutional attributes and field physical characteristics significantly affected the adoption of the inventoried water erosion control practices. Sex, education, farmer’s organization membership, landownerships, access to agricultural advice service, position of the field on the toposequence and presence of water stream significantly influenced the soil erosion control practices adopted on the watershed. The results of this study showing that set of factor sway farmers to adopt soil erosion control practices can help policy makers to upscale the adoption of the practices and soil scientists to orient their research programs on erosion control practices.

Soil degradation is a serious problem for people living in watersheds of Benin. This degradation is mainly due to poor farming practices and because of this poor management annual maize production reduced critically. This study was aimed to estimate the state of physical and chemical soil degradation of three watersheds of southern Benin. One reference site representing sacred forest was also chosen for comparing the results of watershed. Soil cores were also collected from these selected sites. Physical and chemical parameters were determined from the collected soil samples. Results of study revealed that the watershed soil is more compact and lower in nutrients than the soil of reference sites. The bulk soil density was significantly higher in Govié and Lokogba watersheds compared to their reference site. As a result of intensive farming and water erosion, root biomass of the soil has significantly decreased from 86 to 82% in Govié, 69 to 67% in Lokogba and 75 to 70% in Linsinlin. The total soil nitrogen of watershed declined significantly, from 33 to 24% in Govié, 32 to 30% in Lokogba and 38 to 25% in Linsinlin. Available soil phosphorus decreased from 10.93 ppm to 7.11 ppm in the Lokogba watershed. The soil phosphorus of Linsinlin watershed was reported highest from 5.5 ppm to 8.00 ppm compared to the reference site. The soil organic matter of watershed declined from 38 to 37% in Govié and 68 to 66% in Lokogba. Lokogba watershed is the most degraded one compared to three watersheds studied.

Soils degradation is one of the constraints in food security achievement in Benin. This study aimed at assessing the effect of cropping systems and slope on soil physical and chemical properties in the watershed of Kpacomey located in the Aplahoué district. Soil samples were collected from three parallel transects along the slope. Sampling was carried out under different treatments combining cropping systems (Maize-Cassava, pure Palm grove, Palm grove-Maize-Cassava and Teak Plantation) along with slope levels (low slope, medium slope and high slope degree). The impact of cropping systems and slope on soil properties was assessed by determining the physical and chemical parameters. The cropping systems significantly (p < 0.05) influenced soil bulk density, root biomass, soil acidity and soil organic matter. The lowest soil bulk density (1.38 g/cm 3) was recorded under the Palm grove-Maize-Cassava cropping system while the highest (1.47 g/cm 3) was obtained with pure Palm grove cropping system. Root biomass was more abundant (0.28%) with the pure Palm grove cropping system. However, root biomass was significantly (p < 0.05) influenced by slope. Soil crusting resulted in no significant influence (p > 0.05) on the effect of cropping systems and slope. Moreover, cropping systems resulted in significant effects (p < 0.05).