Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
•
bathing sponges
•
chewing sticks
fodder for backyard animals.
Young stalks of
Blighia welwetschii
,
Cola millenii
,
Horralhaena floribunda
,
Kigelia africana
,
Milletia zechiana
,
Morinda lucida
,and
Newbouldia laevis
are
deliberately left standing on-farm to regenerate and to serve various purposes,
including usage as live stakes for yams. Most of these trees have a root morphol-
ogy that favours their use as traditional yam variety hold-up poles. They are
usually deep-rooted, and do not form profuse lateral roots that can hamper growth
and tuberization of yams. After attaining a certain level of maturity, they are har-
vested as fuelwood and timber.
It is estimated that a minimum amount of ¢1 million (
•
US$222 at the prevalent
$1
¢4,500 exchange rate) could be realized seasonally or annually from sales of
items from Odorkor Agbo's garden as listed in Table 12.6. The potential marketing
return of $222, which excludes the proportion of garden produce consumed directly
by the Agbos, compares to Ghana's estimated $370 GDP per capita (African
Development Bank, 1995). This finding suggests that if properly nurtured, home
gardens would not only serve as a major reservoir of germplasm, but also form a
significant basis of improving rural livelihoods and food security.
Other findings on utility
Non-food tree species are also found in home gardens. They include
Newbouldia
laevis
, used as life stakes for yams, and
Funtumia africana
, used for carvings and
artifacts for sale in addition to its known medicinal uses. Therefore, the actual and
potential role of home gardens in securing food supplies, and in conserving plant
genetic basis of the food production and marketing systems needs to be accorded
greater policy attention.
Table 12.6 Major items that could be sold from Odorkor Agbo's garden
Product
Source
Pestles
Horralhaena floribunda
Chewings and bathing sponge sticks
Acacia kamerunensis
Yam tuber/seedlings
Dioscorea
spp.
•
Odornor
only
•
Alamaa
only
•
Seedlings only
Cassava
Manihot esculenta
Fuelwood/charcoal
Horralhaena floribunda
Leucaena
sp./
Cassia
sp.
Leafy vegetables
Xanthosoma maffafa
only
Fruits
Persia americana
only
Citrus
sp. only
