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Eat local! The benefits of indigenous vegetables for peri-urban populations

Throughout Africa, people are moving from rural areas to find work in cities. Indigenous vegetables (traditional, local varieties) offer poor people in cities an opportunity to earn a living, as producers or traders, without requiring large investments. Indigenous vegetables are also important as a source of food for poor households, because their prices are affordable compared with other food items.

Indigenous vegetables (IVs) are a good source of vitamins, micro-nutrients, protein and minerals, with relatively higher levels than exotic vegetables and fruits. They also grow well in local ecosystems. Despite this, many African farmers are increasingly growing exotic vegetables, such as tomatoes, onions and cabbages. These generally require high input levels, particularly pesticides, and are more sensitive to environmental stresses. For example, IVs grow well under rain-fed systems, whilst exotic vegetables are often scarce during dry seasons. The high investment required to produce exotic vegetables and the higher associated risks does not benefit poor households.

Research from the Crop Post-Harvest Programme, funded by the UK’s Department for International Development, examined how changes to post-harvest activities for IVs can increase their role in food security and the livelihoods of poor households in Zimbabwe. The project had several stages:

Seeds, germplasm and appropriate crop management and processing advice were developed and disseminated to farmers in English and local languages. This included quality control guidelines for cowpea, cleome and pumpkin in English, Shona and Ndebele.
Effective seed delivery systems, based on appropriate local knowledge, supplied seeds to farmers through both private and public avenues.
There was high demand for dried vegetables. A partnership with the Development Technology Centre of the University of Zimbabwe refined and disseminated sun-drying technology.
Training programmes on the use of dryers were developed. Two dryers were built and set up for demonstration programmes in Harare and Bulawayo, working with groups of local farmers and processors.

The project successfully improved the productivity, availability and quality of fresh and processed IVs, and increased access to and expansion of markets. These changes encouraged people to grow and trade IVs, rather than exotic species. The project raised awareness of these problems amongst farmers, sellers and researchers; this led to a change in research policy at the Horticultural Research Centre, Zimbabwe, where IVs are now a priority crop.

The project produced several important findings for increasing the consumption and production of IVs in peri-urban areas:

Improvement in basic husbandry skills, such as in seedling management and harvesting, can significantly increase crop productivity.
The high cost and unreliability of transport, including poor quality roads, is a major constraint to the trading of fresh vegetables.
The lack of planning tools available to farmers constrained business development.
There was a lack of skills, such as book keeping knowledge and record keeping. This was evident when farmers, traders and consumers were asked to quantify in terms of how many kilograms of a crop they sold or profits they made.
Because the market for vegetable seed is too small to attract most private sector companies, approaches to seed dissemination must be developed through non-governmental organisations, public organisations (such as research stations) or specific projects.
Market expansion is restricted by a lack of consumer knowledge on the preparation and use of IVs, inefficient market infrastructure and a lack of basic hygiene facilities. These require more efforts to raise public awareness.

Source(s):
‘Opportunities and constraints in the subsistence production and marketing of indigenous vegetables in East and central Africa’, DFID Crop Post-Harvest Programme summary, 2005 (pp 69 in the Final Technical Report, Natural Resources Institute, 1998)
‘Improving the livelihoods of peri-urban vegetable growers through market promotion of fresh and processed indigenous vegetables’, DFID Crop Post-Harvest Programme summary, 2005 (pp 64 in the Final Technical Report, Natural Resources Institute, 2003)

Funded by: Department for International Development (DFID), UK

id21 Research Highlight: 7 November 2005

Further Information:
John Orchard
Natural Resources Institute
University of Greenwich at Medway
Central Avenue
Chatham Maritime
Chatham Kent
ME4 4TB
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1634 883741
Fax: +44 (0)1634 883386
Contact the contributor: J.E.Orchard@gre.ac.uk

Natural Resources Institute, UK

DFID Crop Post Harvest Programme, UK

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