Cultivation of Leguminous Plants in Africa

The cultivation of legumes is an important component in most agrarian systems. It is an essential source of proteins for human and animal nutrition. This family is also an excellent cultural precedent thanks to the ability of its plants to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiosis with Rhizobium bacteria. This symbiosis contributes by more than half of the atmospheric nitrogen fixed biologically. It seems to provide ecological benefits and corresponds to a kind of alternative for producers in developing countries suffering from limited access to chemical inputs. Therefore the cultivation of leguminous plants is considered among the most important axes of African agricultural systems in view of the global guidelines for food security. The crops are subject to biotic aggressions (insects and microorganisms) which cause important losses as well as a consequent fall of the agronomic and organoleptic qualities. The objective of this book is articulated around an in-depth study of the system of culture of some leguminous plants commonly cultivated in Africa.