"Urban biorefining" is an original concept aiming at using urban wastes (household wastes, municipal wastes, industrial liquid and/or solid residues and side-products, etc.), mainly of vegetal origin, for the production of an array of biofuels and bioproducts. This "urban biorefining" concept fits particularly with the economic, geographic and politic contexts and constraints of the Walloon Region (south part of Belgium). Indeed, Walloon Region is a very small territory (area of about 6,504 sq mi) with a temperate climate. Supply feedstock, mainly arising form forestry and agriculture, are thus rather restricted, submitted to importation, and subjected to non-standardized quality. Several examples of our regional strategy, still available on an industrial scale, are herein proposed and detailed. ; Peer reviewed
Agri-environmental measures developed in the south part of Belgium illustrate the willingness of the rural society actors, farmers and political representatives, to manage the crop production in different ways than the conventional methods. More than the reduction of fertilisers and pesticides, the environment management allows to increase the pest biological control naturally occurring in crop fields. In 2002, the effect of an herbaceous flowered strip of 10 meters alongside the field edge was assessed in winter wheat and sugar beet plots. The evolution of Syrphidae populations was determined using water yellow traps placed in a triangle in the herbaceous strips and in the fields at 20 and 50 meters far from the strip. Syrphid density and diversity were discussed in relation to the agronomical interest of the Syrphidae insect family, focusing on the aphidophagous predator taxa. ; Les mesures agri-environnementales (MAE) illustrent le souci des intervenants du monde rural, agriculteurs et pouvoir politique, de se démarquer des méthodes de productions conventionnelles. En plus de la réduction des intrants, engrais et pesticides, l'aménagement du milieu permet d'accroître le contrôle biologique naturel des ravageurs des cultures. Durant la saison 2002, l'effet de l'introduction d'une bande enherbée fleurie de 10 mètres de large en bordure de champs de froment et de betteraves a été observé sur l'évolution des populations de Syrphidae. La capture des insectes a été réalisée en utilisant des pièges jaunes, disposés en triangle dans la tournière enherbée, dans le champ, à 20 et à 50 mètres de cette dernière. La densité et la diversité des espèces de syrphes sont discutées en fonction de l'éloignement de la bande non cultivée et en relation avec l'intérêt agronomique de cette famille entomologique en tant que prédateurs aphidiphages. ; Peer reviewed
Food products from honeybees are commonly used in Africa as in other parts of the world. The composition of bee related food is important for consumers but also to illustrate the feeding quality for the bees. The present study was aimed at assessing the quality of bee bread and honeys for the survival of A. mellifera adansonii, L. 1758 in the DRC. Several environments were selected, namely a rainforest in Kisangani, a savannah in Kavwaya and a restored forest in Mampu. Bee breads were assessed according to their richness in proteins and essential amino acids. Honeys were evaluated considering the water content, the sugar rates, the amount of 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furaldehyde (HMF), the acidity (pH) and conductivity. The average content of protein from pollens collected in the DRC was 14.11 ± 5.27%. The protein content was low compared with the food needs of bees (and to the European breeds). No significant difference was observed between Kisangani, Mampu and Kavwaya in terms of protein content of beebread (P ≥ 0.05). The concentrations of ten essential amino acids for bees were within the optimum range of food needs for honeybees (set for European bee races). Beebreads collected in the rainforest of Kisangani were significantly richer in isoleucine, leucine, valine, arginine, lysine and phenylalanine than those from the savannah of Kavwaya. However, beebreads harvested in Kisangani were not significantly different from those from the replanted Mampu forest. The analysis of honey samples revealed that the Congolese honeys had good nutritional quality for bees. Indeed, reducing sugar content of the collected samples ranged from 63.40 to 73.80%, the content of sucrose ranged from 0.30 to 1.90%, the content of water varied from 16.80 to 22.00%, the pH of the analyzed honey samples ranged from 4.22 to 4.53. The average of the electrical conductivity was 47.74 ± 13.93 μS/cm and the concentration of HMF varied from 1.75 to 31.38 mg HMF/kg of honey. The honeys collected in the rainforest of Kisangani were significantly richer in minerals and moisture than those from the savannah of Kavwaya (P <0.05). However, the honeys collected in the last savannah were richer in sucrose and HMF than those collected in the Kisangani rainforest and the restored forest of Mampu (P <0.05). These results would only be applied for the time at which the samples were collected (January-February) but are an interesting data set for further use of bee related product in DRC.Keywords: Apis mellifera adansonii, honey, bee bread, quality, nutrition, bee ecology, DRC.
Eating edible insects in Republic Democratic of Congo is a tradition for centuries but a lack of knowledge remains about an actualized inventory of species consumed in the country. Moreover, a rigorous taxonomic matching of the used vernacular name of edible insects and a precise characterization of the sector of entomophagy are still needed. According to our studies focused on the city of Kinshasa, 14 edible species were inventoried as regularly consumed. They belong respectively and by degree of importance to the Lepidoptera (46.7%), Isoptera (18.6%), Orthoptera (17.6%), Coleoptera (9.7%) and Hymenoptera (3.7%) orders. Generally 80.0% of the Kinshasa population consumes at least one species of insects 5 days per month. The key peoples in the edible insect sector are mostly women. The incomes generated by this activity contribute to the well being of households, to reduce poverty and food insecurity in the capital Kinshasa. Future studies should focus on sustainable ways of harvesting wild populations, the use of improved conservation practices, the enhancement of cottage industries for farming insects and the development of economically feasible ways of mass-rearing edible species. ; Peer reviewed
The honeybees play an important role in the pollinations of many field crops. Here, we assessed the effect of the presence of honeybee colonies, A. mellifera adansonii, L. 1758 (Apidae: Hymenoptera) in the production of African melon crop, C. mannii (Naudin) (Cucurbitaceae) in Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo. The influences of distance to the apiary and flight orientation were also investigated. Generally, four fields of one hectare were cultivated in two study sites. At each site, both fields of one hectare were separated by more than 3 kilometers to avoid interference between treatments. Two honeybee colonies were installed in the middle of the first experimental field at each site (T1) during flowering (when there were 10% of flowering plants). A second experimental field, without honeybee colonies, was the control (T0). Each experimental field (with or without colonies) was divided into three concentric subplots around the apiary (P1: 0-10 meters to the apiary, P2: 10-30 meters, and P3: 30-50 meters to the apiary). The impact of pollination of honeybees on the yield of C. mannii was assessed on five components of yield (average number of seeds per fruit, average number of fruits per plant, average weight of seeds extracted per fruit, average length and average width of the seeds). The results of this study have shown that the pollination of introduced honeybees significantly improved the number of seeds per fruit by 83.78%, while the number of fruits per plant and the weight of seeds per fruit were improved by 422.89% and 185.61%, respectively. Indeed, the seed size was positively influenced by the presence of the apiary in the field. According to the findings in this study, the spatial distribution of plants (distance to apiary and orientation) did not influence the yield and the size of seeds in the field of C. mannii. The association "apiary - culture of C. mannii" could be integrated in the arsenal of strategies to enhance symbiotic interactions Apis mellifera with C. mannii in DRC.Keywords: Apis mellifera adansonnii, L., pollination, Cucumeropsis mannii (Naudin), yield, Kisangani, RDC.
Critics are raising about conventional farming and its consequences on biodiversity, human health and society. As alternatives, novel models for agriculture are proposed, and among them Agroecology. Quite often, Agroecology is seen as the application of ecological knowledge to the agricultural production. Indeed, this helps to develop more ecological farming practices favoring biodiversity to provide ecosystem services at multiple scales. Agroecology goes further in considering that the agricultural production is integrated in a food system guided by human interactions. This latter one takes into account socio-economic and political dimensions to develop new production systems. Doing so, it assures food security worldwide while preserving resources for future generations. Facing these ambitious objectives, academics are invited to elaborate a new approach for science in developing participatory and action-oriented approaches as well as multidisciplinarity. AgricultureIsLife is a research platform built up at the University of Liège (ULg). In 2013, 40 researchers (including 18 young researchers) from 16 research units of ULg were working in a multidisciplinary approach. About twenty research topics have been divided in four research axes of which objectives are to develop a more sustainable agriculture. The platform has the ambition to discuss its results to a large comity gathering the actors of the agricultural development. The aim of our work is firstly to present Agrocology as a concept made of three interrelated aspects. To illustrate it, the organization and objectives of the research platform AgricultureIsLife will be discussed in a second part.
