agronomy Article Farmers’ Preferences for Genetic Resources of Kersting’s Groundnut [Macrotyloma geocarpum (Harms) Maréchal and Baudet] in the Production Systems of Burkina Faso and Ghana Mariam Coulibaly 1,2, Chaldia O.A. Agossou 1,Félicien Akohoué 1, Mahamadou Sawadogo 2 and Enoch G. Achigan-Dako 1,* 1 Laboratory of Genetics, Horticulture and Seed Science, Faculty of Agronomic Sciences, University of Abomey-Calavi, 01 BP 526 Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin;
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[email protected] Received: 19 February 2020; Accepted: 4 March 2020; Published: 8 March 2020 Abstract: Pulses play important roles in providing proteins and essential amino-acids, and contribute to soils’ nutrients cycling in most smallholder farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These crops can be promoted to meet food and nutrition security goals in low-income countries. Here, we investigated the status of Kersting’s groundnut (Macrotyloma geocarpum, Fabaceae), a neglected pulse in West Africa. We explored its diversity, the production systems, the production constraints and farmers’ preferences in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted in 39 villages with 86 respondents grouped in five sociolinguistic groups. Our results indicated that Macrotyloma geocarpum was produced in three cultivation systems: in the first system, farmers grew Kersting’s groundnut in fields, mostly on mounds or on ridges; in the second system, farmers grew it as field border; and in the third system, no clear tillage practice was identified.