vegetables

This article in the Ghana Journal of Science, Technology and Development, highlights the role of innovation platforms for resilience thinking. In this paper, the concept of resilience is approached from the perspective of socio-ecological systems dynamics. In particular, the study examined the contribution of farmers to research towards enhanced resilience of traditional African vegetable production systems in northern Ghana. An Innovation Platform was set up as a ‘knowledge space’ that provided an enabling environment for the interaction between farmers’ indigenous and researchers’ scientific knowledge in agricultural research. »

This review in the Acta Physiologiae Plantarum Journal, describes the progress made towards the adverse effects of abnormal temperatures on various growth stages in legumes and propose appropriate strategies to resolve these effects. Of the various environmental stresses that a plant can experience, temperature has the widest and most far-reaching effects on legumes. »

This article in the Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems Journal studies how promoting of consumption of traditional African vegetables affects household nutrition security in Tanzania. The Good Seed Initiative (GSI) program promoted production and consumption of nutrient-dense traditional African vegetables in Arusha region in Tanzania to reduce malnutrition through diet diversification. The researchers estimated the impact of promotion activities on households, women, and children’s dietary diversity. »

Lack of dietary diversity is a key causal factor of malnutrition in Burkina Faso because the population consumes mostly cereals crops. Nutrient‐dense traditional African vegetables provide an excellent means to complement cereal staples for better nutrition, in particular for women and children, as well as for income generation. This study in the Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development characterized the production of traditional African vegetables in Burkina Faso based on a questionnaire administered to 250 respondents. »

This paper, published in the Outlook on Agriculture journal, provides an overview and analysis of vegetable seed industries in developing countries, with a focus on Morocco, and the resulting influences on smaller subsistence farmers. The ongoing problems and issues related to the absence of vegetable seed industries in developing countries will undoubtedly affect food production, nutritional health and the resulting food security in these countries for future generations. »

This paper in the Experimental Agriculture Journal investigates the determinants and pathways for smallholder participation in traditional African vegetable production and identifies entry points for farmers to increase traditional vegetable production by linking nutritional awareness and promotion with potential high value markets. The results of this study provide evidence that farmers tend to grow more African traditional vegetables as compared to other crops based on their increased level of perception towards nutritional value of traditional vegetables along with other factors such as their market value, timely availability of quality certified seeds, willingness to invest in labour, required training for women and better access to credits. »