Genetic erosion: assessment of neglected and underutilized crop genotypes in South Western Kenya
Paper Details
Genetic erosion: assessment of neglected and underutilized crop genotypes in South Western Kenya
Abstract
The loss of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) of crop results in reduction of the genetic base of the remaining varieties that may have a consequence upon changing environmental and ecological conditions. There is therefore, an urgent need to collect, document, characterize, conserve and utilize the traditional crops and formulate policies that will protect them from further genetic erosion. There is lack of adequate knowledge and information on the status and risks posed to Plant genetic resources in south western Kenya especially with neglected and underutilized crop species. This study was carried out to assess genetic erosion of NUS so as to recommend effective strategies for conservation and sustainable utilization of these resources. The research was carried out in the three administrative areas of the Gusii region (Kisii, Gucha and Nyamira) of Kenya. These highlands are a source of much of the food that feeds the western part of Kenya as well as the home of unique, diverse plant genetic resources. However, these resources have been seriously threatened through genetic erosion due to high population pressure, more productive crop species and now climate variability and change. There is lack of adequate knowledge and information on the status and risks posed to Plant Genetic Resources, PGR, in Gusii highlands. Therefore, acquisition of this information through base line surveys is imperative in order to develop effective strategies for conservation and sustainable utilization of these resources for present and future generations. The study was carried out in from July 2011 to November 2011.In order to assess genetic erosion, survey research was undertaken. These were, formal and informal survey to explore the level of on-farm genetic erosion in depth by inter-viewing carefully selected group, homogenous in social composition with farmers; key informant interviews (interviews with special indigenous crop knowledgeable farmers in the communities) with selected farmers (farmers seconded by the farming community for their rich indigenous technical knowledge on native crop production i.e. key informants. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, means, etc.) to generate summaries and tables at different levels. The study found millets, sorghums, wild fruits, bananas landraces, goose berry, passion fruit, loquat, guava, tree tomato, cassava, sweet potatoes, cocoa yams as the main Underutilized and Neglected crops in the region. Important causes of this genetic erosion were high production cost and climate variability, cash crops population pressure and small farm size, outdated land use systems, poor cultivation methods, age and gender. There is an urgent need to establish or strengthen systems for monitoring genetic erosion, including easy-to-use indicators in the region. Support should be given to collecting farmers’ varieties/landraces in particularly vulnerable or threatened areas, where these are not already held ex situ, so that these genetic resources can be multiplied for immediate use and conserved for future use.
Bal SS, Douglas JE. 1992. Designing Successful Farmer-managed Seed SystemsWinrock International Institute for Agricultural Development. Development Studies Paper Series. Winrock, Arlington, USA. 8, 379–380.
Barllet PF. 1980. Adaptation strategies in peasant agricultural production. Annual. Review of Modern Farming. 4, 112-123.
Cromwell E, Friis-Hansen E, Turner M. 1992. The Seed Sector in Developing Countries: A Framework for Performance Analysis. ODI, London. 76, 664-670.
Delouche JC. 1982. Seeds quality guidelines for the small farmer. In: Proceedings of the Conference on Improved Seed for the Small Farmer, CIAT, Cali, Colombia. August, 9-13
Duvick DN. 1984. Genetic diversity in major farm crops on the farm and in reserve. Economic Botany. 38, 161-178.
Evenson RE, Gollin D, Santaniello G. 1998. Introduction and overview: Agricultural values of plant genetic resources. 102, 46–52.
FAO. 1999. Early warning system on plant genetic resources. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. 18, 553–561.
FAO. 1996. Food Crops in Leipzig, Germany. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. June 17-32,
FAO. 1996a. Report on the state of the world’s plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. 75-76.
Frankel OH, Bennett E. 1970. Genetic resources in plants- their exploration and conservation. 56-78
Frankel OH, Hawkes JG. 1975. Crop genetic resources for today and tomorrow. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, England. 78-89
Friis-Hansen E. 1992. The Performance of the Seed Sector in Zimbabwe: An Analysis of the Influence of Organizational Structure. ODI, London. 62, 31-34
Harlan JR. 1975. Our vanishing genetic resources. Science. 188, 618-622.
Jaffe S, Srivastava, J. 1992. Seed system development: The appropriate role of the Mprivate and public sectors. World Bank Discussion Paper. World Bank, Washington D.C. USA. 167, 156-178
Jean-Mark F. 1999. Mountain biodiversity at risk. Threats to knowledge from high places.IDRC Briefing. 62, 31-34
Karp A, Edwards KJ, Bruford M, Funk S, Vosman B, Morgante M, Seberg O, Kremer A, Boursot P, Arctander P, Tautz D, Hewitt GM. 1997. Molecular technologies for biodiversity evaluation: opportunities and challenges. Nature Biotechnology. 15, 625-628.
Kiambi D. 1998. Status of diversity, genetic erosion and indigenous knowledge of rice(oryza sativa) in Tana River Delta, Kenya. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), Technical report. 203, 127–137.
Lindblade K, Tumuhairwe JK, Caswell G, Nkwiine C, Bwamiki D. 1996. The Myth of over cultivation in Kabale District, Uganda. (Unpublished project report). 18, 29-56.
Linnemann AR, de Bruijn GH. 1987. Traditional seed supply for food crops. ILEIA Newsletter. 3, 10-11.
Low JW. 1997. Potato in Southwestern Uganda: Threats to sustainable production. 127-137.
Nnadozie KC, Kiambi D, Kameri-Mbote P, Atta-Krah K, Mugabe MJ. 2003. Policy, Legal and Programmatic Issues under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development. IPGRI Publication. 3, 180-186.
Osborn T, Faye A. 1991. Using Farmer Participatory Research to Improve Seed and Food Grain Production in Senegal. Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development. Development Studies Paper Series. Winrock, Arlington, USA. 43, 773-87.
Pray CE, Ramaswami B. 1991. A Framework for Seed Policy Analysis. IFPRI, Washington D.C., USA. 36, 113-120
Sperling L, Loevinsohn ME, Ntabomvura B. 1993. Rethinking the farmers’ role inplant breeding: local bean experts and on-station selection in Rwanda.Experimental Agriculture. 29, 509-519.
Swanson T. 1996. Global values of biological diversity: the public interest in the conservation of plant genetic resources for agriculture. Plant Genetic Resources Newsletter. 105, 1-7.
Tripp R. 1996. Biodiversity and modern crop varieties: sharpening the debate. Agriculture and Human Values. 13, 48-63.
Zimmerer KS. 1992. The loss and maintenance of native crops in mountain agriculture, Geojournal. 27, 61-72.
N. Anunda Henry, Lydia Kitonga, Florence O. Odiwuor (2014), Genetic erosion: assessment of neglected and underutilized crop genotypes in South Western Kenya; JBES, V4, N6, June, P33-41
https://innspub.net/genetic-erosion-assessment-of-neglected-and-underutilized-crop-genotypes-in-south-western-kenya/
Copyright © 2014
By Authors and International
Network for Natural Sciences
(INNSPUB) https://innspub.net
This article is published under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0