Tradition unbound
New efforts to stop hungerand save biodiversity
LUVE, Swaziland – When Flora Shongwe Lamatsebula, an elderly farmer, invites her grandchildren
for dinner, she has a couple of fussy eaters on her hands. “If I prepare traditional dishes, they don’t want
them,” she laments. “So there are two pots on the stove, one for me – I don’t eat cooking oil and packaged
soups – and one for them.”
A revolution in diet is sweeping this southern African country, and causing health problems.
“We are seeing a rise in hypertension and sugar diabetes,” says Nikiwe Dlamini, a government home
economist. “People have turned away from indigenous food and now are eating fast food. Rural people
are buying packaged food in town, such as
canned fish, corned beef, packaged soups,
chicken stock and soft drinks.”
FIGHTING BACK. The Swazi Ministry of Agriculture is
fighting the trend. On this bright autumn day in the village
community centre, home economists and extension
workers are field testing a questionnaire on traditional food
crops, their preparation and qualities. Ms Lamatsebula and
other farmers enthusiastically describe the properties of a
long list of traditional beans, peas, nuts, cereals and
pumpkins, foods that they have cooked in the traditional
way for a hearty group lunch.
“We are cataloguing this knowledge and
trying to find out how we can instil it in the
population again and especially how we can
save and multiply the seeds – they are
disappearing,” says Simeon Nxumalo, the
extension worker who led the focus group.
The initiative is timely since at least 40
percent of Swazis – those living with the
AIDS virus – need wholesome traditional
foods more than ever. Nutritionists say such
foods are the first medicine for those with
the disease.
NO SEED, NO CROP. Zodwa Mamba, a ministry agronomist
working in another part of the country, specializes in
legumes, the classic sustainer of the poor. “I was looking for
improved varieties and tolerance to disease, to help farmers
increase yields,” she recalls. “But by 1992, acreage was
going down and with severe drought, the farmers were
eating even the seeds. Seed companies said it wasn’t worth
it for them to multiply legume seeds since farmers don’t
buy from them regularly.”
Why gender, biodiversity andlocal knowledge go together
MALKERNS RESEARCH STATION, Swaziland – Despite years
of experience as curator of the national Gene Bank,
repository of 850 plant or seed samples of mainly
indigenous food crops, Thandi Lupupa learned
something new about seeds recently.
At a LinKS workshop, Ms Lupupa found out about
women’s role in selecting maize seed, even though, as
a cash crop, maize is considered a man’s preserve.
“It was an eye opener to me that gender was also
important,” she says. “I had been concentrating on
indigenous knowledge and
biodiversity.”
“It turns out that women
go through the maize field
before the harvest to
choose the seeds they want,
whereas men just want to
harvest the whole crop in a
hurry. I thought women just
concentrated on legumes.
“So now I talk to women
when I want to collect maize
seeds,” she concludes.
Throughout the three countries covered in this booklet,
similar stories were heard illustrating the close
relationship between gender, biodiversity and local
knowledge. Tanzanian LinKS coordinator Sachin Das
adds: “In our ministries, we have taken the different
roles of men and women into account before, we are
aware of indigenous knowledge and, since the Rio
Summit, we have programmes on biodiversity, but this
is the first time we have put the three together.”
New ways of savingHelping countries to rescue traditional foods and crops
Thandi Lupupa, Gene Bank curator, removes seed sample
from storage freezer.
In many developing countries the local knowledge ofmillions of small-scale farmers andherders is not treated as a genuine
national resource. Programmesthat support production-orientedagriculture and cash crops take
precedence over programmes tocapitalize on, for example, local cures
for livestock diseases, local seedvarieties, women’s role in seed management orindigenous systems for managing natural resources.
Since 1998, the LinKS (Local indigenous KnowledgeSystems) project, executed by FAO’s Gender andPopulation Division with US$4 million provided byNorway, has worked with strategic partners inMozambique and the United Republic of Tanzania and,since 2000, in Swaziland, to change that situation.
Far from being utilized by governments, localagricultural knowledge and traditional seed, welladapted to often harsh local conditions, are actuallybeing lost. The trend leaves small-scale farmers andherders increasingly vulnerable to hunger and poverty.In response, LinKS sponsors three main activities –training, research and communication – to strengthenthe position of extensionists, researchers and policy-makers, some of whom are profiled in these pages.These professionals are well placed to promote theintegration of the traditional sector and its accumulatedwisdom with modern policy and practice. As theintellectual foundation for this hoped-for development,LinKS promotes understanding of the linkages betweenlocal knowledge systems, gender roles andrelationships, food security and the conservation andmanagement of biodiversity.
This booklet, the result of an FAO Information Divisionphoto-reportage mission in May 2004, is one of aseries on the Organization’s field programme. Seeback cover for other titles.
Ms Mamba began encouraging farmers to form seed
associations to multiply seed for local sale.
Rebecca Ntondo Shabangu, one of nine members of
one such association, says its seeds are popular: “We
can’t meet the demand, especially for one local variety of
groundnut. Last year we had more than 50 customers and
sold 70 kilos of seed.”
Ms Mamba, one of 25 participants invited to the
inaugural LinKS workshop in Swaziland, has since received
project funding for a seed production study. “LinKS training
was very, very useful,” she says. “I’ve now changed my
research methodology to a more participatory approach
and am getting better results. I learned I shouldn’t just
impose what I know. The farmers had lots of knowledge that
was new to me. If you just come with a list of questions, the
farmers tell you anything just to get it over with.”
She adds that current trends favour more productive
hybrid seed instead of open-pollinated seed, which is often
all the poor can afford to grow, and export instead of
subsistence crops. “Those with big food security problems
are in danger of being left behind,” she concludes.
What is LinKS?
the old ways
“If you just come with a list
of questions, the farmers tell you
anything just to get it over with.”
Zodwa Mamba - agronomist
▼
Cataloging the cooking qualities of
traditional food crops in Luve, Swaziland (right)
while a student orders fast food in a nearby town (below).
MASSAVASSE, Mozambique – In this typical farming community in southern Mozambique,
farmer after farmer speaks of favourite local seed varieties lost to flood and drought, and of family life
torn apart by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Experts fear that the loss of farming know-how and traditional seed
is putting into jeopardy the very future of the only livelihood most Mozambicans have.
“Yes, it’s true. I have lost a lot of seed,” says Antonio Nhabanga, indicating how high the flood waters
reached in 2000 by pointing to the top of his
house. “Two rice varieties we had adapted to this
area that needed only water to grow well are
gone.” His wife, Berta, adds: “We had a type of
bean that was very productive. And we had a
yellow maize that we loved very much because it
was resistant to drought. All gone.”
FAMILIES AFFECTED BY THE EPIDEMIC – an estimated
22 percent of people in the district have the AIDS virus – are
finding it difficult not only to grow enough food for survival,
but also to pass on their farming know-how to their
children.
A study undertaken by FAO’s LinKS project in
Massavasse and two other communities documents this
trend: almost all the interviewees cited parents or other
close relatives as the
continuing key source of
learning on farming and
seed. Knowledge loss about
local varieties was already
evident: 25, 27 and 33
percent of younger adults
interviewed could not name
any local variety of ground-
nuts, pumpkin or cassava
respectively, compared to
only 12, 10 and 19 percent of
elders.
DOWNWARD SPIRAL. “When the children are here on
school holidays, they go to the field and learn farming by
doing, not regular training,” confirms Johana Alfredo
Ubisse, 43, a farmer who is ill with HIV/AIDS. “I can’t vouch
for their level of farming knowledge.”
“Since I have been sick I am not personally able to go to
the field,” he says. “My wife is doing her best by herself. The
difficult part is preparing the fields for planting. Ploughing
with animals is a man’s job – so she is breaking the ground
by hand. Production is going down.”
“We depend on agriculture for all our income so we are
having serious problems getting enough to eat,” he adds.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic shows few signs of abating,
according to Luis Maxinho Baloi, traditional leader of
Maxinhe, a rural community of 500 households in which 115
orphans were reported to the local health clinic between
2000 and 2003.
“The number of infections is increasing, even in
children,” he says in front of his house in the village founded
by his father. “The main activity here is agriculture. If the
family is dying, then the seeds are dying too.”
Traditional ways
▼
The clinic in Massavasse (left),
a community hit hard by HIV/AIDS
and drought.
Rameca Mungwe shows her daughter
Veronica how to select the best maize
seeds (top).
What disasters cost farming in know-how and seed
A WIDOW’S STORY. Rameca Mungwe, 44, sits on a mat in
front of her house in Maxinhe, dressed in black clothes and
scarf, in contrast to the vibrant African colours worn by her
neighbours. She is in mourning for her husband, who died
two weeks before of HIV/AIDS. Her story is a typical one:
“My agriculture is very traditional. I work with a hoe and
my basic seeds are maize, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, beans
– several types – and some vegetables like tomatoes. I know
how to select and keep seeds from previous years. Because
of the drought, the children were hungry and crying and I
had to cook the seeds for them to eat.
“My three children come with me to the field. I need
their help and that is how I teach them. Although since I got
ill I go very little to the field. But I still believe strongly that
my daughter can be a good farmer some day.”
under threat
Seed fairs revivea battered tradition
CHOKWE, Mozambique – When floods devastated the
district in 2000, many relief organizations sent
agricultural inputs such as seed. However, some of
the seed, from neighbouring countries or even as far
away as North America, were not adapted to the local
ecology and did not do well.
A better and longer-term solution may be local
seed fairs, which bring together local farmers who
have surplus seed of traditional food crops to sell or
trade with other farmers looking for such seed. The
government gives the poorest seedless farmers
vouchers, which can be exchanged for seed at the fair.
This allows the farmers to select and buy their
preferred seed varieties. Developed by the
government and FAO, the seed fair programme has
already held two well-attended fairs in the area.
“Seed fairs are meant to revitalize the traditional
exchange of seeds, which has been affected by the
disasters,” says Francisca Langa, a district extension
officer. “We make sure women, who are the
traditional seed managers, get the vouchers, because
they are a type of money and men might take them
and sell them.”
“If the family is dying, then the
seeds are dying too.”
Luis Maxinho Baloi - traditional leader
Percentage of men and women in LinKS study who could identifymore than one variety of a given traditional crop
Crop Women Men
Pumpkin 50% 30%
Sweet potato 41% 23%
Cassava 22% 3.8%
▼
Traditional agriculture (top) and food preparation (bottom)
still rely heavily on women’s labour.
DAR ES SALAAM, United Republic of Tanzania - Even as the
government formulates policies that will modernize the country’s huge livestock
sector, it is looking for ways to tap the local knowledge of herders about
everything from stock management to traditional breeds and local cures.
Western science contributes much to livestock production – cows that give
large quantities of milk, for example, and vaccines against contagious disease.
But often the Western breeds are too delicate for harsh African conditions, or
the medicines too expensive for subsistence herders. Why can’t Tanzania take the best from both the
modern and traditional worlds?
FAO AS CATALYST. FAO’s LinKS project contributes to this
process by training researchers and scientists to understand
and document local knowledge and the relationship between
it, gender and biodiversity (see Why gender, biodiversity and
local knowledge go together on page 1).
The project has fostered a network of professionals in
key ministries, non-governmental organizations and
universities, people who can call on each other for support
and information. “With a network it becomes easier to
influence the government; it becomes a lobby,” says LinKS
national coordinator Sachin Das.
“Before LinKS, a lot of people were shy to say they were
working on indigenous knowledge,” says Mkangare Minja, an
ethnoveterinarian conducting ongoing research into the
scientific validity of traditional medicines, the first step on
the long road to expanding their use. “Through the network
I am now communicating with other ethnoveterinarians in
the country so we don’t duplicate research.”
Faith Magambo, a sociologist from the Tanzanian Food
and Nutrition Centre, adds: “Scientists can’t make things
happen by themselves. LinKS contributed to our work by
making the community a focus instead of the lab.”
On the campus of Sokoine University of Agriculture in
Morogoro, a couple of hours west of the capital, 2 500
students, 30 percent of them women, throng classrooms
A system to utilize local knowledge takes shape
Learning from
▼
Research laboratory at Ministry of Water and Livestock Development (top).
Members of the Tanzanian network on local knowledge meet (above right).
Students at Sokoine University of Agriculture prepare
for exams (below right); soon the university curriculum will cover
local farming and herding knowledge.
and labs to learn the latest scientific methods. Soon they will
learn about local knowledge as well, thanks to LinKS support
for a teaching module on the subject.
INFLUENCING POLICY. The Ministry of Water and
Livestock Development is preparing a national Animal
Breeding Policy, a major step forward, which foresees the
creation of a genetic resources centre. Two of the five policy
drafters and many of the professionals who will staff the
future centre are associated with the LinKS project. FAO, as
the lead UN agency on agrobiodiversity, has been
contributing to such issues in the country since 1991.
“LinKS came at the right time, when we’re trying to
put together the pieces of a new livestock system,” says
David Sendalo, assistant director for livestock research. “A
network puts me in touch with all kinds of contributors to
this process.”
the herders
“We hope the next generation
will integrate the best of the
modern with the best of tradition.”
George Kifuko - masai herder
Of red sheepand green chicks
What happens when a livestock breed shows anexceptional trait?
Take the Red Masai sheep, which show a geneticresistance to parasites, a major problem in Africa.“The Masai know the sheep have thosecharacteristics, but they don’t know why,” notesSachin Das, LinKS national coordinator.
The fear is that, sinceTanzanian science is unable toisolate and then perhapscapitalize on the parasite-resistant gene, someone in theWest will.
“We’re afraid we’ll lose thesheep. They’ll get bought up andwe’ll have to buy back a new,improved breed in 20 years.”
Some local knowledge iseasier to understand.
“The other day I saw afarmer with a yard full ofgreen chicks,” says PenielMwasha, assistant director forextension in the Ministry ofWater and LivestockDevelopment. “He told me heused a dye made from a typeof grass in order tocamouflage them from hawks.The chicks had a 90 percentsurvival rate.”
The Masa i ’s story
MZEE NDEMO TIPA, United Republic of Tanzania – “Ouranimals are well adapted to this place, compared to theexotics. They are resistant to trypanosomiasis and areable to travel long distances to better pasturage. Theexotics can’t walk 10 kilometres without being wateredlike our local breeds can,” says Masai herder BakariMameo, sitting under a tree in this bush hamlet an hourwest of the capital. “We bought some Friesian cross-breeds. They only lasted six months. Some died andothers started losing weight.”
Fellow herder George Kifuko picks up the story: “If wehave two drugs, a traditional and a modern, we decidewhich to use based on two criteria: cost and side-effects.”
He adds that, despite the fact that some Masaichildren are rejecting traditional ways, “We hope thenext generation will integrate the best of the modernwith the best of tradition.”
The Tanzanian government is documenting Masailivestock practice through a LinKS-commissioned study.
▼
A Masai mother and child take a break from milking their cows (top) while
a Masai herder shows a handful of mkunde kunde bark (above right). When the bark
is pounded into powder (cover photo) and mixed with water it can be administered
to livestock, such as this goat (below right), to cure worm infestations.
All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this informationproduct for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized withoutany prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fullyacknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale orother commercial purposes is prohibited without written permission of the copyrightholders. Applications for such permission should be addressed to the Chief,Publishing Management Service, Information Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme diCaracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy or by e-mail to [email protected]
© FAO 2004
To order other titles in the FAO in the field series, contact theCommunication and Design Group, FAO, at the above street address. Titlesinclude: Grassroots potential unleashed: Good news from West Africanfishing communities (English, French and Spanish) and Catching the rain: Asuccessful partnership conserves drylands in Tunisia (English, French andItalian).
All photos in this booklet are taken by Giuseppe Bizzarri and are the property of FAO.
For further information, contact:
Gender and Development ServiceSustainable Development DepartmentFood and Agriculture Organization of the United NationsViale delle Terme di Caracalla00100 Rome, Italy
Fax: (+39) 06 57052004Email: [email protected]
www.fao.org/sd/links Local knowledge and biodiversity are everywhere under threat.This farmer in Mozambique (above), whose husband has died of HIV/AIDS,
says she is having trouble passing farming know-how to her children.Monoculture, as represented by this sugar cane plantation in Swaziland (below), can threaten biodiversity by displacing small-scale farmers and traditional crops.
AD/I/Y5511E/2/9.04/3100
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