Seed Systems of Traditional African Vegetables in Eastern Africa: A Systematic Review

Self Cite

Vernonia amygdalina is an African traditional leafy vegetable which is a source of income for many households involved in its production in West and Central Africa. The species possesses several medicinal and nutritional properties. Despite its importance, there is limited information on farmers’ access to seed, seed production practices, seed trade, and related constraints. This research aimed at investigating farmers’ seed access and management practices. A non-probabilistic snowball method was used to sample and interview 164 bitter leaf seed sector actors from urban and peri-urban areas in Benin. Results indicated that vegetable farming is mainly practiced by men and it was the main occupation for 94.47% of the farmers interviewed. A significant association was found between the location and farmers’ experience (p-value = 0.01358). A diversity of Vernonia amygdalina morphotypes were found. Sixty-three percent of the farmers surveyed use seeds as planting material, 29% use purchased seedlings and only 7% use stem cuttings for Vernonia amygdalina production. Most of the seeds used (74%) were from farmer-saved seeds, harvested from isolated plants during production. The main constraints to V. amygdalina production reported by farmers were the unavailability of seeds (41% of respondents), low germination percentage (18%) and low seed longevity (12%). Findings from this study can inform solutions to improve farmers’ access to high-quality seeds and enhance V. amygdalina vegetable production.

Section: Planting Materials Their Sources and Related Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traditional African vegetables’ seed access and management practices: case of Vernonia amygdalina (Delile) in southern Benin

Houegban,

Aglinglo,

N’Danikou

et al. 2024

Self Cite

“…Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems 08 frontiersin.org (FAO, 2006;Ayenan et al, 2021). For a variety to be registered and certified, it must be distinct, uniform, and stable (DUS) and undergo value for cultivation and use testing (VCU testing).…”

Section: Seed Laws and Regulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genome editing to re-domesticate and accelerate use of barley crop wild relatives

Hanak,

Janjić,

Hay

et al. 2023

Climate change threatens global food security, but the biggest impact will be in arid, low social-economic regions. To improve food security, new breeding technologies (NBTs) could be implemented for re-domestication of crop wild relatives (CWR). CWR harbor many beneficial traits, but it is difficult to incorporate these traits into conventional breeding programs. Thus, although genebanks hold significant collections of CWR, their potential has yet to be reached. Using barley as an example, we describe how using genebank collections, digital sequence information and NBTs, re-domesticated barley can be produced with improved characteristics, while retaining the resilience and adaptation of the original material. Lastly, we highlight some obstacles that need to be overcome for re-domesticates to be adopted.

“…As a result, poor seed quality remains a significant constraint to AIV (Kirigia et al, 2018) productivity. In the meantime, some improved AIV varieties are already produced by seed companies, including amaranth, African nightshade, jute mallow, kale/Ethiopian mustard, cowpea leaf spider plant (Abukutsa-Onyango, 2015; Jansen van Rensburg et al, 2015;Dinssa et al, 2016;Ayenan et al, 2021).…”

Section: Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Indigenous Vegetables to Improve Food and Nutrition Security: Experiences From the Project HORTINLEA in Kenya (2014–2018)

Bokelmann

Huyskens-Keil

Ferenczi

et al. 2022

Many warning signs indicate that the food security goals formulated in 2015 will not be achieved. This situation is particularly true for the African continent. After substantial progress up to 2015, the situation has hardly improved or has worsened in many respects. In addition to the rapid population growth, the increasingly frequent long dry periods or sometimes erratic rainfall have contributed to this. In addition, current production systems have dysfunctional side effects due to increasing yield optimization and specialization. Thus, besides the associated resource degradation, it also leads to a monotonous food supply and the emergence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies (hidden hunger). A meaningful way to diversify the food supply is to cultivate and market previously underutilized species. However, they are characterized by not being known and traded globally and usually having only local importance. Accordingly, they have been widely ignored in research. Increasingly, however, there is a growing realization worldwide that these plants can make an essential contribution to food and nutrition security, especially for poorer segments of the population. Moreover, they are adapted to local conditions and are often produced with less resource input. This article aims to show how these species can be better utilized to provide nutritious food through sustainable production, using the example of African indigenous vegetables. In doing so, the impact of emerging social and ecological changes in Kenya will be considered. This source is an interdisciplinary collaborative research project, Horticultural Innovation and Learning for Improved Nutrition and Livelihood in East Africa (HORTINLEA), which was carried out in Kenya from 2014 to 2018. Many different disciplines were involved in the German-African cooperation project. The results will be brought together in this article with the help of a food-sensitive value chain approach, and the experiences gained from this project will be reflected.