Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
to posterity. The perception of land as sacred ancestral property underlies the
customary land tenure arrangement based on kinship, which appears to be less
exploitative of biophysical resources than the increasingly widespread tenancies.
This philosophy, like the traditional practice of placing highly valued tree species
under the custody of an earth priest,
tindana
, is a dying ecologically positive one
that warrants reactivation to encourage conservation of biophysical resources.
By not burning cleared vegetation, but rather using it for mulching, the trad-
itional practice called
oprowka
or
proka
conserves plants, seeds, and soil
microbes in addition to enhancing soil nutrients by humus. It may be improved
by scientific studies with a special emphasis upon control of weeds and pests,
which farmers consider to be major disadvantages of the practice.
Bush fallowing, the most popular traditional system of food cropping, is often
condemned for its extensive and less than expected productive character.
However, by periodic fallowing it regenerates and preserves a diversity of plants.
Policy, therefore, may encourage it by supporting research focused upon higher-
yielding biodiverse rotational cycles under different ecological conditions.
The still widespread traditional practice of intermixing crops, often among
trees deliberately left
in situ
in farms, sufficiently conserves biodiversity and
enhances ecological services as to warrant its encouragement. In some of the
areas, notably those settled by migrant Krobo people, the mixed cropping has
been developed into a home-centred agroforestry system embodying a rich diver-
sity of ecologically and economically useful plants. The system has positive
implications for food security and rural livelihoods. Its biodiverse character and
proven economic viability points to its potential as a more viable alternative to the
generally failed attempts at promoting exotic agroforestry systems. Further
research, especially into spacing of crops relative to trees and into the scientific
basis of the farmer perception of the agro-ecological functions of the trees, would
enhance realization of the promise of the traditional agroforestry systems.
Another traditional agrodiverse system having positive implications for biodi-
versity and ecological services as well as food security, and therefore deserving
of policy attention, is the management of yams by:
•
planting them within agroforestry systems
•
staggering their harvesting by lifting only one or two matured tubers from a
bunch at a time, leaving the rest
in situ
in the ground for harvesting later, which
has positive implications not only for food supply but also for seed stock
•
leaving unharvested in the ground small nodules so that they may regenerate
in situ
in a process that may continue for years;
•
live staking the climbers by using trees specially left standing for that purpose
•
collecting yams from the wild and domesticating them in shrines before their
transfer for cultivation in farms as part and parcel of the plant domestication
process.
The pivotal role played by female farmers in the conservation of traditional
varieties of rice at Gore, and the able stewardship of PLEC activities by females
