While the challenges of family law reform and barriers to justice are widely studied, there is a gap in our understanding of the gendered nature of the use of courts in West Africa. Through analysis of judicial decisions in Courts of First Instance (Tribunaux de Première Instance) in Allada and Cotonou, Benin, this article examines how women and men use lower courts in family law cases. This article finds that despite barriers to access to formal institutions, women use these courts in equal numbers as do men, and they use them for divorce, as well as to claim child custody, child-support and alimony. Men mostly use family law courts to determine paternity and to seek divorce. Despite a widespread lack of confidence in courts and tribunals, these Courts of First Instance are a tool for women to challenge social hierarchy and to claim rights for themselves and their children.

Between the judicial reorganizations of 1924 and 1941, the colonial tribunals in Dahomey heard more than two hundred cases of rape. Teenage or younger girls engaged in street hawking were the most common victims of rape who reported their assaults to these tribunals. Many of the cases stand out because market women played the dominant role in transforming girl hawkers’ experiences of sexual assault into formal grievances. The history of sexual assault in colonial Africa has largely focused on how ‘customary’ and colonial courts have or have not punished the crime of rape. This approach privileges masculine authorities’ views of sex, consent, and gender violence. This article focuses on the investigative processes in cases of sexual assault. In doing so, two gendered histories emerge: firstly, a history of elder female caregiving to girls suffering the aftereffects of sexual assaults and, secondly, a history of the vulnerability of hawkers to quotidian sexual violence.

White Guinea yam (Dioscorea rotundata Poir.) is indigenous to West Africa, a region that harbours the crop's tremendous landrace diversity. The knowledge and understanding of local cultivars’ genetic diversity are essential for properly managing genetic resources, conservation, sustainable use and their improvement through breeding. This study aimed to dissect phenotypic and molecular diversity of white yam cultivars from Benin using agro-morphological and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Eighty-eight Beninese white Guinea yam cultivars collected through a countrywide ethnobotanical survey were phenotyped with 53 traits and genotyped with 9725 DArT-SNP. Multivariate analysis using phenotypic traits revealed 30 traits as most discriminative and explained up to 80.78% of cultivars’ phenotypic variation. Assessment of diversity indices such as Shannon–Wiener (H′), inverse Shannon (H.B.), Simpson's (λ) index and Pilou evenness (J) based molecular and phenotypic data depicted a moderate genetic diversity in Beninese white Guinea yam cultivars. Genetic differentiation of cultivars among country production zones was low due to the high exchange of planting materials among farmers of different regions. However, there was high genetic diversity within regions. Hierarchical clusters (HCs) on phenotypic data revealed the presence of two groups while HCs based on the SNP markers and the combined analysis identified three genetic groups. Our result provided valuable insights into the Beninese white Guinea yam diversity for its proper conservation and improvement through breeding.

Latent class analysis is applied to a hedonic price model to examine the presence of heterogeneity in consumer valuation of quality attributes in the Beninese rice market. Three classes of consumers are found in proportions of 5, 56, and 39 percent. We employ a partial equilibrium model and find modest gains in consumer surplus from an increase in head rice and reduction in chalkiness. The results provide evidence of market sorting, which should be taken into consideration in upgrading rice value chains. Also, it is important to assess potential gains from quality improvement to determine priorities for research and development.

Military mutinies are a serious threat to peace in Africa, as they may be a catalyst for large-scale civil violence. Unlike most studies that solely focus on the causes of military revolts, this article explores both cause and government response by examining a 1992 military sedition in Benin. Relying on interviews and government archives, Codjo uncovers the sources of the revolt and compares two consecutive administrations in their management of the crisis. The main takeaway is that presidential leadership style and antecedents of elite consensus on governance rules are sometimes critical in rallying support for a lasting solution to mutinies.

This study investigates household expenditures on magico-religious powers in Southern Benin, with a novel focus on malevolent powers. Of 126 households, 18 percent reported expenditures on malevolent powers within the previous thirteen years. Investment in such powers for malevolent purposes was found to be significantly less frequent than for cure or protection. In line with existing literature, the following factors were found to be positively correlated with investment in malevolent powers: (1) living with a partner; (2) jealousy of economic success; (3) conflict within a social circle. Expenditures on powers for cure and protection are positively correlated with expenditures on malevolent uses.

Catholic school alumni played a crucial role in shaping Senegal and Benin in the first decades after independence.1 Though they came from a variety of religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, they nevertheless strongly identified with their Catholic schooling experience. Indeed, these West African alumni composed a distinct social group that had been inculcated in the habits and values of ‘Catholic civism’, an ideology based around public service, self-discipline, moral restraint, honesty, and community. While many studies of educated youth emphasize their political activism, Catholic school youth engaged in the subtler process of shaping their new countries by transforming colonial-era institutions from within. Beyond politics, students who graduated in the early independence era used Catholic civism as both a social marker and an implicit social critique.

In this study, we investigate the spatio-temporal fluctuations of the cashew leafminer Eteoryctis gemoniella Stainton, which was recently reported as one of the most devastating cashew pests in Benin. Eteoryctis gemoniella causes serious damage, especially to the young tender leaves, thus reducing the photosynthetic capacity of trees and hence their productivity. This study was carried out in three different cashew orchards in Northern Benin, West Africa, where we monitored the fluctuations of the infestation rates and population changes of E. gemoniella during a one-year cycle, from September 2010 to August 2011. In addition, we collected cashew leaves with mines to check for emergence of hymenopteran parasitoids. Our results show that infestation rates (as well as population densities of E. gemoniella) varied through time and among orchards. The most infested orchard was at Korou, whereas, the least infested was at Okoutaossé. In general, infestation rates and number of mines per leaf passed through two peaks, the first in July–August and the second in November, whereas no infestations were observed from January to June. Spatial distribution pattern of E. gemoniella within the orchards showed that this moth almost has a random distribution. Parasitoids attacking the leafminer were recovered from the samples. These were Apanteles sp., Chelonus (Microchelonus) nr. curvimaculatus Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Trathala sp. (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). Further detailed studies on these natural enemies will be needed for evaluating their potential in controlling E. gemoniella in cashew orchards.

Field experiments were conducted in western Atakora, Benin, to determine the critical time period of weed competition in hand-weeded corn. Weeds were removed until different crop growth stages and then allowed to reemerge. Other treatments began weed control at different growth stages (four-, eight-, and ten-leaf stages and flowering) and were maintained until harvest. One treatment was permanently kept weed-free and one treatment was uncontrolled until harvest. Yields without weed competition ranged from 2.8 to 3.4 t ha−1. As expected, yield loss increased with duration of weed infestation and ranged from 38 to 65% compared to permanent weed-free plots. In three out of four site-years, the critical period for weed control started at the four- to six-leaf stage and continued until ten-leaf stage or flowering of corn. Approximately four hand-weeding applications were required in this critical period of weed control.

Weeds are a major constraint to rice production in labor-limited, upland rice-based systems in West Africa. The effects of weeding regimes and rice cultivars on weed growth and rice yield were investigated at two upland locations (Abomey-Calavi and Niaouli) in the degraded coastal savanna zone of Benin in 2005 and 2006 with below-average rainfall. Four weeding regimes (hoe weeding at 21 d after sowing [DAS], delayed hoe weeding at 31 DAS, hoe weeding at 21 and 42 DAS, and a no weeding control) were the main plot treatments. Cultivars comprising three interspecific upland rice cultivars (NERICA 1, NERICA 2, and NERICA 7) and the parents (Oryza sativa WAB56-104 and O. glaberrima CG14) were tested in subplots. The most dominant weed species identified were Jamaican crabgrass, Mariscus, and silver spinach. Rice yield was generally low because of drought stress; none of the experiments had a higher mean yield than 1,400 kg ha−1 across cultivars. Across cultivars, the best weeding regimes in terms of weed control and rice yields were single weeding at 31 DAS (W31) and double weeding at 21 and 42 DAS (W21+42). Under these weeding regimes, WAB56-104 out-yielded the three NERICA cultivars. CG14 showed the strongest weed suppressive ability (WSA) in Abomey-Calavi but did not have strong WSA in Niaouli because of lower biomass accumulation. WSA of WAB56-104 was similar to that of the three NERICA cultivars. Single weeding at 31 DAS, together with the use of cultivars with good adaptation to unfavorable rice growing conditions, would increase land and labor productivity of upland rice-based systems in West Africa.

The effect of weed interference on corn yield and the critical period for weed control (CPWC) were determined in Germany and Benin. Treatments with weed control starting at different crop growth stages and continuously kept weed-free until harvest represented the “weed-infested interval.” Treatments that were kept weed-free from sowing until different crop growth stages represented the “weed-free interval.” Michaelis–Menten, Gompertz, logistic and log–logistic models were employed to model the weed interference on yield. Cross-validation revealed that the log–logistic model fitted the weed-infested interval data equally well as the logistic and slightly better than the Gompertz model fitted the weed-free interval. For Benin, economic calculations considered yield revenue and cost increase due to mechanical weeding operations. Weeding once at the ten-leaf stage of corn resulted already profitable in three out of four cases. One additional weeding operation may optimize and assure profit. Economic calculations for Germany determined a CPWC starting earlier than the four-leaf stage, challenging the decade-long propagated CPWC for corn. Differences between Germany and Benin are probably due to the higher yields and high costs in Germany. This study provides a straightforward method to implement economic data in the determination of the CPWC for chemical and nonchemical weed control strategies.

Rice vampireweed belongs to the Orobanchaceae and is found in Africa and Australia. It is a hemiparasitic weed of lowland rice genotypes and causes losses of 40 to 100% of rice grain yield. Our study addressed the genetic diversity of rice vampireweed in Benin and Senegal. The specific objectives of this research were to study the genetic diversity of rice vampireweed accessions in Benin and Senegal and the relationship between the different genotypes of rice vampireweed through agroecological areas. To achieve these objectives, the genetic diversity of rice vampireweed accessions using the AFLP technique was studied. Based on our results, dendrogram classification has distinguished four different genetic groups. The populations of Benin and Senegal are genetically diverse. Substantial genetic differentiation (GST) exists among agroecological areas within Benin and Senegal (GST = 0.17). The high genetic diversity of rice vampireweed in Benin and Senegal presents a challenge for the development of resistant rice germplasm.

Can African politicians play the ethnic card? Ethnicity matters for a host of outcomes in Africa, but debate remains about the extent to which it motivates the African voter. In experimental settings, we know that ethnicity shapes political support for hypothetical candidates. This paper offers an experimental test of the extent to which ethnicity shapes political support for actual, real-world politicians. Relying on Benin’s mixed-ethnicity President, this paper proposes a survey experiment that measures the independent effect of coethnic cues in boosting support across both coethnic groups. The results reveal that coethnic cues work: the same political actor can draw support from two different ethnic groups based solely on subtle ethnic cues.