Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills

The Togo Hills borderland between Ghana and Togo is known for its cultural and ecological diversity and dynamic socio-political history. In this setting, African rice (Oryza glaberrima) is cultivated together with other local cultivars of Asian rice (O. sativa), and smallholders are keen innovators....

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Autores principales: Teeken, Béla, Temudo, M.P.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Informa UK Limited 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112908
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author Teeken, Béla
Temudo, M.P.
author_browse Teeken, Béla
Temudo, M.P.
author_facet Teeken, Béla
Temudo, M.P.
author_sort Teeken, Béla
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The Togo Hills borderland between Ghana and Togo is known for its cultural and ecological diversity and dynamic socio-political history. In this setting, African rice (Oryza glaberrima) is cultivated together with other local cultivars of Asian rice (O. sativa), and smallholders are keen innovators. This article presents the results of participatory variety selection (PVS) trials, in four different cultural and ecological settings within the Togo Hills, designed to understand farmers’ innovation and variety choice. Farmers belonging to different ethnic groups organized their trials and evaluated fourteen farmer varieties from six West-African countries and one Nerica variety. The way the PVS trials took shape and evaluation was conducted reflected the socio-cultural and economic differences between the settings. Despite these differences, farmers showed a broad interest and preference for different varieties based on different criteria, related to agroecological conditions, household consumption needs, market demands and/or ritual purposes. We contend that ― in a period of climate crisis, bio- and agrobiodiversity depletion, rapid social change and market instability ― plant breeding in West Africa must be participatory, decenter from a focus on high external input agriculture and include farmers’ varieties, better contributing to food security, quality, and nutrition, while strengthening agroecological practices.
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spelling CGSpace1129082025-08-15T13:20:51Z Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills Teeken, Béla Temudo, M.P. farmers experimentation crop improvement oryza agroecology development The Togo Hills borderland between Ghana and Togo is known for its cultural and ecological diversity and dynamic socio-political history. In this setting, African rice (Oryza glaberrima) is cultivated together with other local cultivars of Asian rice (O. sativa), and smallholders are keen innovators. This article presents the results of participatory variety selection (PVS) trials, in four different cultural and ecological settings within the Togo Hills, designed to understand farmers’ innovation and variety choice. Farmers belonging to different ethnic groups organized their trials and evaluated fourteen farmer varieties from six West-African countries and one Nerica variety. The way the PVS trials took shape and evaluation was conducted reflected the socio-cultural and economic differences between the settings. Despite these differences, farmers showed a broad interest and preference for different varieties based on different criteria, related to agroecological conditions, household consumption needs, market demands and/or ritual purposes. We contend that ― in a period of climate crisis, bio- and agrobiodiversity depletion, rapid social change and market instability ― plant breeding in West Africa must be participatory, decenter from a focus on high external input agriculture and include farmers’ varieties, better contributing to food security, quality, and nutrition, while strengthening agroecological practices. 2021-09-14 2021-03-08T10:03:51Z 2021-03-08T10:03:51Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112908 en Limited Access Informa UK Limited Teeken, B. & Temudo, M.P. (2021). Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 1-30.
spellingShingle farmers
experimentation
crop improvement
oryza
agroecology
development
Teeken, Béla
Temudo, M.P.
Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills
title Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills
title_full Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills
title_fullStr Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills
title_full_unstemmed Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills
title_short Varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes: the case of rice in the Togo Hills
title_sort varietal selection in marginal agroecological niches and cultural landscapes the case of rice in the togo hills
topic farmers
experimentation
crop improvement
oryza
agroecology
development
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/112908
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