Agriculture: From a Development Perspective to Plant Resource Domestication

Abstract

Plant Resource Domestication (PRD) is generally accepted as a continuum of different phases of human-plant interactions but its value in the development of agriculture remains to be explored. The origin of PRD can be traced to an initial transfer of valuable native plants from their natural habitats to agricultural ecosystems. The later phase of the domestication process involves the genetic improvement of cultivated plants. Plants subjected to the different aspects of domestication manifest a modification to their form and an enhancement of their function. As cultivated plants manifest profound changes in morphology and physiology so also they progress into becoming crops that are highly productive. The higher productivity that defines the latter stages of PRD is often achieved through series of selection and plant breeding programmes. These stages or Plant Development Levels provide clues into the development pattern intrinsic to agriculture and inform the proposal concerning the nature of agriculture as well as its development.

Resource Domestication: An Introduction to Biodiversity and Wildlife in Agriculture

“…Biotic components play important roles in processes that sustain the environment. Generally, plants serve as habitat for organisms, trap energy needed in an ecosystem but more importantly satisfy certain needs of society [22]. In the same way, animals are known to improve soil properties, aid pollination of flowers and dispersal of seeds.…”

“…In the same way, animals are known to improve soil properties, aid pollination of flowers and dispersal of seeds. However, it is their utility value as adjudged by society that makes each one of them a resource [23]. But, a resource may exist only in a particular ecological zone or region.…”

“…The combined effect of these aspects of domestication is a transformation of primitive resources into highly productive cultivated plants or domestic animals. However, the impact of domestication also involves the evolution of new terms as a cultivated plant is referred to as a "crop" and a domestic animal a "livestock" after their partial or complete transformation [22,23].…”

“…Wild plants are used in crop breeding programs [24][25][26], some wild animals are considered as livestock of the future while others have been identified as wild progenitors of modern livestock [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. However, the current concept of Biodiversity or Wildlife does not sufficiently reflect the unique attribute of agriculture as a system that develops crops from wild plants and livestock from wild animals [22,23]. More so, similar concepts in Natural Resource Conservation accommodate undomesticated plants, flesh-eating birds and dangerous mammals which are not related to any crop or livestock [38,39].…”

Contributions of “resource relocation” to the development of agriculture

“…More recent studies present resource relocation as an ecological aspect in the process of transforming native plants into crops and native animals into livestock (Uchola 2015a, b). However, there is a need to highlight the contributions of resource relocation to the development of the aquaculture, crop, horticulture, and livestock sub-sectors of agriculture.…”