African vegetables and food security for poor agrarian households in Limpopo province: effective but neglected indigenous knowledge under threat
SOURCE: Strategies to support South African smallholders as a contribution to government's second economy strategy: Volume 2: case studies
OUTPUT TYPE: Chapter in Monograph
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2011
TITLE AUTHOR(S): T.Hart
SOURCE EDITOR(S): M.Aliber
KEYWORDS: AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, FOOD SECURITY, LIMPOPO PROVINCE, POVERTY, RURAL COMMUNITIES, VEGETABLES
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 7107
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/3523
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/3523
OUTPUT TYPE: Chapter in Monograph
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2011
TITLE AUTHOR(S): T.Hart
SOURCE EDITOR(S): M.Aliber
KEYWORDS: AGRICULTURE, FARMERS, FOOD SECURITY, LIMPOPO PROVINCE, POVERTY, RURAL COMMUNITIES, VEGETABLES
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 7107
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/3523
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/3523
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
African indigenous people, including many South African ethnic groups, have survived for millennia by consuming plants collected from the wild (Fox and Norwood Young, 1998). Such practices are still prevalent in South Africa today. The different parts of the plants that are used as foodstuffs include roots, tubers, stems, rhizomes, leaves, flowers, fruits, nuts, gums and berries. Generally, at least two parts of the plant can be eaten, of which the young leaf is almost always one. This has resulted in many researchers calling these plants African leafy vegetables (ALVs) (Laker 2007). However, given that more than one part is generally consumed and because dishes, the morogo dish, for example, often contain more than just the leaves of a single plant,18 in this case study we use the term 'African vegetables'. This more inclusive term is used by many rural consumers. Morogo is the sePedi word that refers to a relish made from a number of these leafy and fruit plants that are either harvested in the wild or are locally grown for food consumption. This relish is also known as marog, imifino or miroho and is regularly consumed in rural areas as an accompaniment to maize porridge. The plants which make up this relish may be indigenous to rural areas or they may be exotic vegetables that have been indigenised and incorporated into the local diet over a number of generations through migration or trade, either prior to or during the colonial era (Schippers, 2002).-
Related Research Outputs:
- The significance of African vegetables in ensuring food security for South Africa's rural poor
- Water use and nutrient content of crop and animal food products for improved household food security: A scoping study
- The socioeconomics of livestock keeping in two South African communities: a black man's bank
- Market access for small-scale farmers in South Africa
- NASFAM funding proposal for the National AIDS Commission
- Trends and policy challenges in the rural economy: four provincial case studies
- Visit to Italy for the purpose of attending 18th Symposium of the International Farming Systems Association at the Salesianum, Rome
- The importance of indigenous knowledge in reducing poverty of rural Agrarian households
- Should subsistence agriculture be supported as a strategy to address rural food insecurity?
- Small-scale agriculture, employment and an all-inclusive rural economy
- The gendered dimensions of farming systems and rural farmer households in the context of food security: a pilot study of small-scale livestock farmers in Marble Hall and Rhenosterkop
- "Upping the game?":a response to the WIPHOLD CSR initiative
- Nano-material biosensors in agriculture application and accessibility in rural smallholding farms: food security
- Land redistribution for agricultural development: case studies in three provinces: final report, October
- Trends and policy challenges in the rural economy: four provincial case studies
- How a smallholder farmer entered and remained in the export market for thirty years
- Local innovations using traditional vegetables to improve soil quality
- Against the odds: rural women who drive food and nutrition security in their communities
- Living with rats
- Synergy of science and tradition can yield improved nutrition