The presence of symptoms of Fusariumsp was sought and noted in each farmer’s field. The presence of symptoms of Bunchy Top Banana Disease including plants that have turned into flowers. During focus group discussions, each agricultural practice was analyzed in a participatory manner with the farmers. Application modes of the practices have been detailed and then its deviation from organic farming practices is assessed using scores. A score of 1 means a small difference between the agricultural practice used and the practice of organic farming. The score 2 means an average difference while the score 3 means a high difference between the agricultural practice used and the practice of organic farming. The Generalized Linear Model distribution and logit link with the binomial family were carried out to determine the effects of agricultural practices and types of crop associations on the presence of the major pests and diseases of bananas and plantains.

The Generalized Linear Model distribution and logit link with the binomial family were also used to determine the relationship between the modes of production and acquisition of banana and plantain seedlings,vertical grow system the availability of different cultivars, means of farmer’s communication and localities. All the analyses were carried out in Rat the significant level of 5%.A total of 210 banana and plantains farmers were surveyed in the 4 zones of high production. Farmer’s surveyed age varied from 39 to 47 years old with a meanage of 42 years. The majority of farmers were men especially in the Plateau district where no female banana/plantain farmers were surveyed. The most important presence of women in bananas and plantains production was found in the Oueme district. Bananas and plantains farmers were generally monogamous with 31% as the highest rate of polygamy observed in the Atlantique district. The ethnic groups represented were Goun , Kotafon , Aizo and Fon . The majority of the farmers surveyed were Christians , anemists and very few Muslims . The Mono district followed by the Atlantique had lands available for agriculture especially for the production of bananas and plantains.

However, farmers of the Oueme and Plateau have more professional experiences. The latter were less associated in-cooperatives or groups of farmers for the bananas and plantains production. The majority of farmers in Mono , Oueme and Plateau have a good knowledge of organic banana production systems. Additionally, very few Atlantique farmers knew the organic banana production. All the farmers surveyed were motivated to convert their production systems into organic production systems and the majority of them were ready to pay the costs of the certification process for their organic products. The main activities of surveyed farmers were agriculture followed by animal breeding and food processing . In total, the availability of 26 cultivars of bananas and plantains has been identified as major cultivars in the production areas . The availability of these cultivars varied across time and production areas . In the Atlantique district, cultivars were highly available towards the end of the year. In Mono district, several cultivars were moderately available at the year starting and had become highly available throughout the year. In Oueme district,all cultivars were poorly available in the first half of the year and had become highly available in the second half of the year. Finally, in the Plateau district, a few cultivars that were poorly available at the year starting became highly available from April to May . Statistical analyzes revealed significant negative effects of agricultural practices on the presence of the major banana pests . The most frequent agricultural practices used to face this issue were crop association , mechanical destruction of diseased plants ,banana plantations in shallows , crop rotation , compost use , poultry manure use and herbicide use . Other agricultural practices were less frequently used by farmers. The use of biopesticides,trap plants, composts, crop rotation and crop association have significant negative effects on the presence of the banana weevil.