Cové is a city in the

Zou Department Zou is one of the twelve departments of Benin, named for the Zou River which travels through the department before emptying into the Atlantic in the south of the country. The department of Zou was split in two in 1999, with the northern territor ...

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

. The commune covers an area of 525 square kilometres and as of 2012 had a population of 43,554 people.

Geography

Cové is located 40 kilometres from

Abomey Abomey is the capital of the Zou Department of Benin. The commune of Abomey covers an area of 142 square kilometres and, as of 2012, had a population of 90,195 people. Abomey houses the Royal Palaces of Abomey, a collection of small traditional ...

and 159 kilometres from Cotonou. The commune covers an area of 525 square kilometres and the Zou Ouémé river passes through it. It is bounded to the north by Dassa-Zoumé, east by

Zagnanado Zagnanado or Zangnanado is a town, arrondissement, and commune in the Zou Department of southern-central Benin. It is located 47 kilometres from Abomey and 165 kilometres north of Cotonou. The commune covers an area of 750 square kilometres and ...

, south by

Zogbodomey Zogbodomey or Zogbodomè is a town, arrondissement, and commune in the Zou Department of south-western Benin. The commune covers an area of 600 square kilometres and as of 2002 had a population of 72,338 people. Administrative divisions Zogbodo ...

, and west by

Djidja Djidja is a town, Arrondissements of Benin, arrondissement, and Communes of Benin, commune in the Zou Department of south-western Benin. The commune covers an area of 2184 square kilometres and as of 2013 had a population of 123,542 people. Ge ...

and Za-Kpota. It is linked to the capital by a paved road. Cové became a sub-prefecture in 1991.

Administrative divisions

Cové is subdivided into 7 arrondissements; Adogbé, Gounli, Houin, Lainta, Naogon, Soli and Zogba. They contain 36 ''quartiers''.

Economy

The main ethnic groups are the Mahi, the Fon, Yoruba, Dendi and Bariba. The occupations of the inhabitants are agriculture, fishing and hunting (42%), trade and catering (30%), transport and communication (6%) crafts (11%) etc. 53 600,00 hectares of land are devoted to agriculture, accounting for 93.38% of the total population. The main crops grown are

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

and

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

Gelede Masked Festival gallery

File:Cové4.jpg, File:Cové5.jpg,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cove Communes of Benin Arrondissements of Benin Populated places in the Zou Department