Neglected and Underutilized Species (Nus)
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NEGLECTED AND UNDERUTILIZED SPECIES (NUS) FOR IMPROVED FOOD SECURITY AND RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE ___________________________________________________________________________________ A Contextualized Learning Manual for African Colleges and Universities Editors Wilson Kasolo, George Chemining’wa and August Temu NEGLECTED AND UNDERUTILIZED SPECIES (NUS) FOR IMPROVED FOOD SECURITY AND RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE ________________________________________________________________________________________ A Contextualized Learning Manual for African Colleges and Universities Editors Wilson Kasolo, George Chemining’wa and August Temu Published by The African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) Copyright © 2018 by The African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) All rights reserved. No part of the publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission by the publishers. The opinions expressed in this book are those of authors of the respective chapters and not necessarily held by ANAFE or editors. Published by: African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resoruces Education. United Nations Avenue, Gigiri P.O. Box 30677 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya. Correct citation: Kasolo, W., Chemining’wa, G., and Temu, A. 2018. Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) for Improved Food Security and Resilience to Climate Change: A Contextualized Learning Manual for African Colleges and Universities, ANAFE, Nairobi. ISBN: ------------ Layout, design and printing: Sublime Media Email: [email protected] P.O. Box 23508 - 00100 Preface Archaeological studies reveal that sedentary living started around 25,000 BC. However, the practice of farming probably began around 10,000 BC, as studies of the Natufian people of Eastern Mediterranean show (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedentism). Around the same time, The Beja nomads of North-eastern Africa are known to have exported cattle, sheep, and goats to the Middle East in those early years. Domestication of crops through cultivation took place in different parts of the world at different times. Thus, a huge variety of crops and livestock were already domesticated by 2500 BC. Through time, the demand for food has kept rising due to the burgeoning human population, leading to huge advances in research to raise productivity of few crops and livestock. Of the 5,000 food crops estimated to exist worldwide the global food system currently relies on only 12 crops and five animal species to provide 75% of the world’s food. Four crops—rice, maize, wheat and potatoes—make up more than 60% of our energy intake (FAO, 1998). Furthermore, these crops have undergone major genetic improvements, and are produced under highly intensive systems where fertilizers, pesticides and growth hormones are applied to ensure high productivity. Unfortunately, this comes with very high costs to human health and environmental degradation. Coupling this with the rapid changes in climate, there are concerns on the future quality of life on earth. Globally it is estimated that there are over 12,000 edible species of plants and animals that are currently neglected and underutilized. Many of them are highly nutritious and some of them can withstand floods and droughts and therefore are useful for climate change adaptation. These Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) are good news to humans. Their proper domestication and improvement are of prime importance in diversifying food security initiatives, improving nutrition and enhancing our capability to adapt to climate change. Unfortunately, the NUS have not been taught at colleges and universities largely because their importance was not realised earlier on, and therefore research into their agronomy has lagged. Recognizing their rising importance, in 2016 ANAFE convened workshops of agricultural educators in Africa who endorsed the ideas of developing a curriculum on NUS to fill the yawning knowledge and expertise gap. ANAFE supported the curriculum development process and the first NUS curriculum was produced and is being adopted by many colleges and universities in Africa. However, educators are searching for suitable learning resources to use in the teaching processes. This learning manual is the first such resource developed by ANAFE, thanks to support from Fondazione Edu an Italian partner. The learning resources cover very few crop and animal species. ANAFE organized this manual using experts from colleges and universities in Africa, who collaboratively shared resources available in reports, research papers, internet etc. to compile credible knowledge. As indicated above, there are many more species that need to be studied and the knowledge shared. It is hoped that many more stakeholders will provide support for the development of learning resources covering more NUS species and the writing of manuals for farmers and extension workers to support domestication cultivation for full realization of their value chains. Prof. August B. Temu i Acknowledgement ANAFE Secretariat deeply appreciates its 147-member universities and colleges spread in 37 countries in Africa, for inspiring the interest in NUS education, and continued support of ANAFE activities. We acknowledge the encouragement and continued guidance from the ANAFE Board Chair and the entire Board. We are also thankful to the following institutions and organizations that allowed their staff to participate in this initiative as authors of the various chapters of this manual: 1. Universtiy of Nairobi, Faculty of Agriculture, Kenya 2. Bioversity International, Italy 3. Sokoine University of Agriculture, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Tourism, Tanzania 4. Makerere University, School of Forestry, Environmental and Geographical Sciences, Uganda 5. University of Ghana, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, Ghana 6. Africa Centre of Excellence for Innovative Rodent Pest Management and Biosensor Technology Development, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania This initiative would not have been successful without the financial support of Fondazione Edu of Milan Italy. Fondazione Edu was created in 2006 with the aim of promoting access to higher education in Africa. Through a scholarship program, Fondazione Edu has provided students in several African countries, with the opportunity to access academic education in their countries of origin. Fondazione Edu’s commitment has a focus on technical-scientific and agronomic studies, to foster the acquisition of professional competencies that can better contribute to the economic development. The Foundation also promotes research and analysis on African tertiary education related issues. The ANAFE Secretariat and the entire ANAFE fraternity are very grateful to Fondazione Edu for this support. We also deeply appreciate Ms Valentina Mutti and Ms Chiara Piaggio of Fondazione Edu for their guidance and encouragement in this initiative. The authors of the chapters of this manual are greatly commended for the effort made in producing the materials. ANAFE also acknowledges Prof. August Temu, and Prof. George Chemining’wa for reviewing the draft manual and for the editorial support. The materials used in this manual are based on published works by various scientists and institutions. While all sources are acknowledged, we also formally acknowledge all these scaientists and institutions and hope that they are proud to see their work reaching college and university classrooms for generations to come. There were logistical support requirements related to the development of this manual, which were all meticulously handled by the ANAFE Secretariat Staff. We are grateful to Ms Josephine Oyoo and Moses Gachie for relentlessly ensuring that all logistical requirements were in place. ii Table of Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgement .........................................................................................................................................................ii Chapter 1 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction to Neglected and Underutilized Species ................................................................................................... 1 Keeping curricula relevant: teaching neglected and underutilized species ...................................................................... 1 Neglected and underutilized species: an introduction ..................................................................................................... 3 Trends, roles and potential ............................................................................................................................................... 4 NUS gaining respect nationally and internationally ......................................................................................................... 5 Role of education on neglected and underutilized species: needs and challenges .......................................................... 6 Global and regional trends, educational responses ...................................................................................................