Lost Crops of Africa Volume II: Vegetables (2006) / Chapter Skim
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Introduction
Introduction
Pages 1-32
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That inevitably meant that more of the traditional contributors fell away from the food supply and the minimization process proceeded. During the colonial era the process of discarding indigenous crops gained further momentum, as the official focus shifted to those familiar crops of mercantile interest, such as cane, chocolate, coffee, cotton, and other durable, transportable, and valuable crops of that sort.
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The United States, after all, has almost half of sub-Saharan Africa's population and eats essentially no local food plants whatsoever.1 But unlike the United States, Africa needs more and better food. And unlike America, which is biologically deprived of native food plant abundance, Africa also has the blessing of hundreds of worthy candidates waiting in the wings -- the old ones that during the course of history got dropped from the food supply not through insufficient merit but through the negligence or priorities of eras now past and for reasons no longer relevant.
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That in turn points to the age-old vegetables, feeding people long before Africans discovered Asia, Europe, and America; these "lost crops" should be included among Africa's future options. When compared with the ancient stock of modern crops, these traditional African food crops remaining outside the fold of science have not been rejected because of any inherent inferiority.
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Beyond all that, a revitalized development of Africa's own food plants could open new windows of opportunity beyond those agriculturists normally imagine. In principle, these domesticates can help not only feed an increasing population, but also make marginal lands more productive, lift rural incomes, and re-clothe denuded and desolate areas.
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Indeed, plant champions Africa-wide consider that -- given attention -- these ancestral foods have a capacity to take their place alongside the modern marvels dominating today's textbooks, scientific treatises, and the international image of what a first-class vegetable should be. Besides offering an important opportunity to diversify the food base, the traditional crops lend themselves to local initiative, not to mention local sentiment.
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Climate Humid lowlands, dry savannas, uplands.
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As a result, this so-far-undomesticated tree scores high on the list of species inhabitants hope to see developed. Climate Humid lowlands, dry savannas, uplands.
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Yet in many parts of Africa there is considerable scope for producing much better varieties in much better quantities. Climate Humid lowlands, dry savannas, uplands.
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Climate Humid lowlands, dry savannas, uplands.
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and elsewhere, and this offers the possibility of rapid advancement within Africa. Climate Humid lowlands, dry savannas, uplands.
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remains among West Africa's most extensive food sources. West Africans employ its smooth-skinned, egg-shaped nut much like Westerners employ lard and butter.
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Southern Africa Security, Food crops. Africa ition, EGETABLES CURRENCE East V Nutr OC on individual on Central Africa rs PRIMARY sections FRICAN chapte A Africa owing West foll separate the the are in in *
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food security, 3) rural prosperity, and 4)
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Amaranth In overall nutritional power, amaranth greens are not dissimilar from the better-known leafy vegetables. Their exceptional protein quality, however, makes them useful supplements to cereals and root foods.
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, and would make an exceptional nutritional tool in West and Central Africa where marasmus (the malnutrition caused by a lack of food energy) and kwashiorkor (the malnutrition caused by a lack of protein)
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Long-bean pods, eaten like green beans, provide fairs amounts of provitamin A and vitamin C, and the leaves contain 25 percent protein of a high nutritional quality. Already well known in some places outside Africa, long bean seems like a ready tool for bolstering Africa's nutritional well-being.
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For a root crop, the content of essential amino acids and food-energy are notably high as well. Okra Okra provides three food products: pods, leaves, and seeds.
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Those swollen root tissues amount to 10 to 20 percent raw protein, which is of high nutritional quality. For children, especially, yambean may be valuable.
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Below is a summary of the merits, specifically in terms of food security, of each of this book's 18 highlighted vegetables. Amaranth These plants already secure the food supply for millions.
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Dika The fruits have traditionally been collected from wild trees in the forests, so not much has been reported about their likely ultimate contribution to food security. Nonetheless, harvesters gather dika nuts by the thousands of tons each year, and those dried kernels are especially stored for the hungry season.
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Indeed, a family with just a small plot of enset supposedly will have food forever. This long-lived species represents natural food security, always available for general use, or for exclusive use in rare times when all other eatables fall short.
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In West Africa the leaves appear at the end of the dry season, a time when other sources of leafy green vegetables have mostly died. All this adds up to a food-security gem.
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Bambara Bean This crop has outstanding commercial possibilities. Beyond the normal farm and village sales, commercial food processing is likely to open up buoyant new bambara-bean markets.
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This shelf-stable soup ingredient even has export potential. Indeed, entrepreneurial West Africans living in the United States already hawk molded ogbono cubes, mostly over the internet.
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, like some sort of southern-hemisphere soybean counterpart. Locust Bean Across West Africa locust seed is a major item of commerce, as is its famed fermented paste, dawadawa.
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Native Potatoes Although native potato is not a cash crop in the normal sense, part of the harvest is commonly put up for sale in the villages. Collectively, African women derive income thereby.
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Yambean Possibly the African yambean will make a valuable cash crop across regions that desperately need a farm-based fulcrum for leveraging rural development upwards. The highly efficient way in which it absorbs nitrogen makes it an especially attractive tool for helping those who suffer due to worn out soil.
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Baobab Extending the use of baobab leaf to regions beyond West Africa offers possibilities for enhancing both the crop and the environment, not to
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This is about as gentle an agriculture as is possible. Cowpea One of the best landcare food crops, cowpea has deep roots that help stabilize the soil as well as dense foliage that shades and covers the surface and preserves moisture.
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Enset Surprisingly, farmers often do little to maintain or improve their enset plots, other than add manure. Although they incorporated exceptional quantities of animal waste, it is still fair to say that the plant provides a longterm sustainable food supply with minimal inputs.
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Native Potatoes While much remains to be learned about the native potatoes themselves, a recent report declares that: "root crops will be many things to many people by 2020." Driving the authors to this deduction is the adaptation of root crops to marginal environments, their vital role in promoting food security at the household level, and their flexibility in mixed farming systems. There's no reason to doubt that such conclusions also apply to these little-known root crops and that the African landscape will benefit thereby.
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The time-honored farm/park landscape covering major portions of the Sahel is said to be a perfect example of large-scale agroforestry at its best. Yambean African yambean could well prove to have a superb soil-repairing capacity.
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