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Fonio production during the last 20 years in five municipalities of Atacora Department in the North Benin.
Source publication
Fonio is a traditional cereal cultivated in many West African countries, where farmers are often the guardians of a rich diversity of landraces or traditional varieties. An investigation conducted in northwest of Benin on indigenous knowledge about fonio landraces and fonio-based traditional foods allowed us to inventory 35 landraces identified by...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... on the economic importance of a crop, the degree of the national and local breeding efforts, and the introduction of exotic cultivars, landraces may disappear sooner or later (Zeven 1998). Figure 2 presents the fonio production variation during the last twenty years. The production of fonio is more intensive in the Boukoumbé munic- ipality (30725.98 ...
Citations
... Previous studies have used ethnobotanical methods (interviews, collections and focus groups) to conduct surveys of landrace and genetic diversity, cultural attitudes and agrisystem change in major cultivation regions of Togo (Adoukonou-Sagbadja et al., 2004), Benin (Ballogou et al., 2014;Dansi et al., 2010), Mali (Fanou et al., 2009;Koreissi-Dembélé et al., 2013), Senegal (Diop et al., 2018), Nigeria (Nyam et al., 2017) and Niger (Sani et al., 2018). This paper endeavours to explore similar research in the fonio cultivation heartland of Guinea. ...
... Richness of landraces in the Fouta Djallon is not dissimilar to that of other regional studies, which have each found between 20 and 35 varieties (Adoukonou-Sagbadja et al., 2004;Ballogou et al., 2014;Dansi et al., 2010;Fanou et al., 2009;Diop et al., 2018). There appear to be more unique varieties in the northern prefecture of Labé, possibly due to proximity to the borders with Mali and Senegal, both prevalent fonio-cultivating countries with plentiful landraces and accessible trade routes. ...
Societal Impact Statement
White fonio ( Digitaria exilis [Kippist] Stapf) is an understudied millet crop, indigenous to West Africa and cultivated in the region largely through traditional practices. This species is climate‐resilient, fast‐growing, nutritionally rich, and provides livelihoods and food security to rural communities. Through collaboration with smallholder farmers in the Fouta Djallon region, Guinea, this study investigates how the diversity and selection of fonio landraces has changed in living memory. This research provides insight into how climatic and socio‐cultural changes affect the cultivation of fonio varieties and other indigenous crops, and why they should be conserved and further involved in rural development programmes.
Summary
The millet crop white fonio ( D. exilis ) isa staple crop feeding thousands of people across West Africa. The Fouta Djallon highlands region of Guinea is a hotspot for its cultivation, with known high genetic diversity.
Our study utilises data from ethnobotanic interviews and plant specimen and seed collections, working with farmers from 15 communities in this region with the aim to investigate the diversity of landraces and popularity of fonio within the current agricultural systems, in the present, and changes over the past 50 years.
A total of 24 named varieties of fonio were recorded and described, along with other commonly cultivated food crops. This includes two lost varieties now no longer cultivated. We also describe the methods for cultivation, grain processing and food preparation.
The priority and popularity of cultivated fonio landraces, and other crops, has changed, due to the consequences of social and environmental change in living memory. The diversity of fonio landraces are maintained as an adaptation to historical climatic changes, and there is an increasing preference towards varieties with a longer growing period and more reliable high yield to the detriment of early season varieties.
... Seed color is one of the most important traits that guide breeders, farmers, processors, as well as consumers for cultivar preference [36,37]. In fonio, seed color was often associated with other traits including crop cycle, yield, tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, harvesting and processing abilities [3], though this needs to be fully documented. The brown seeded accessions, commonly known as white fonio (reference to D. exilis), is the most diverse and widely cultivated cultivar in the region [38]. ...
Fonio is an ancient orphan cereal, cultivated by resource-poor farmers in arid and semi-arid regions of West Africa, who conserved and used the cereal for nutrition and income generation. However, the extent and patterns of phenotypic variation within the fonio germplasm remain scarcely evaluated to inform breeding decisions. In this study, we used alpha lattice design to assess the phenotypic variability of 180 fonio accessions using 20 agro morphological descriptors, including both qualitative and quantitative traits at Bengou research station in 2018 and 2019. Descriptive statistics, combined analysis and multivariate analyses, including principal components analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering, and multiple factor analysis (MFA) were performed. As results, we found significant differences among fonio accessions and among agro ecological zones of provenance for most of the quantitative traits. Furthermore, highly significant positive correlations were found between grain yield and other yield-related attributes such as harvest index and thousand seeds weight, whereas significant negative correlations were found between grain yield and flowering and maturity times. Clusters analysis revealed three phenotypic groups. Group 1 was characterized by early maturing fonio accessions with higher grain yield. Groups 2 and 3 were characterized by late maturing accessions with intermediate to moderate grain yield. The accessions from Group 1 are candidate for yield improvement and development of fonio lines with enhanced lodging resistance. Accessions from Group 2 and 3 can be improved for yield through marker-assisted selection of best thousand seed weight. This study highlights how traits are correlated within the major phenotypic groups of fonio in West Africa, and we discussed how these groups could be further exploited for improving traits of economic importance. Furthermore, this study exhibited agro morphological descriptors that discriminate fonio accessions and provide useful information for parental selection with economically important agronomic traits.
... The criteria used by farmers to describe different landraces included the seeds characteristics, agronomic and religious properties, and the growth habits of the crop. Similar results were found in other studies including on the common bean [40], fonio [41], millet [42] and Kersting's groundnut [12]. These characteristics used to identify different Kersting's groundnut landraces reflect the consistence of folk taxonomy. ...
Pulses play important roles in providing proteins and essential amino-acids, and contribute to soils' nutrients cycling in most smallholder farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These crops can be promoted to meet food and nutrition security goals in low-income countries. Here, we investigated the status of Kersting's groundnut (Macrotyloma geocarpum, Fabaceae), a neglected pulse in West Africa. We explored its diversity, the production systems, the production constraints and farmers' preferences in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Focus groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted in 39 villages with 86 respondents grouped in five sociolinguistic groups. Our results indicated that Macrotyloma geocarpum was produced in three cultivation systems: in the first system, farmers grew Kersting's groundnut in fields, mostly on mounds or on ridges; in the second system, farmers grew it as field border; and in the third system, no clear tillage practice was identified. The main constraints of those farming systems included: difficulty to harvest, the lack of manpower and the damage due to high soil humidity at the reproductive stage. A total of 62 samples were collected and clustered in six landraces based on seed coat colors including cream, white mottled with black eye, white mottled with greyed orange eye, black, brown mottled, and brown. All six groups were found in the southern-Sudanian zone whereas only white mottled with black eye and black colors were found in the northern-Sudanian zone. The white mottled with black eye landrace was commonly known and widely grown by farmers. Farmers' preferences were, however, influenced by sociolinguistic membership and the most preferred traits included high yielding, drought tolerance, and resistance against beetles. These findings offer an avenue to develop a relevant breeding research agenda for promoting Kersting's groundnut in Burkina Faso and Ghana.
... The United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples highlighted the need of special attention to the water rights to such groups; however, no adequate measures and interventions can be seen worldwide. Indigenous knowledge has diverse merits in terms of water management (e.g., Ostrom 1990;Zaman et al. 2011;Codjoe et al. 2013;Fadhili et al. 2013;Ballogou et al. 2014;McDonald 2014, 2015;Chaudhry et al. 2014;Chibememe et al. 2014;David and Ploeger 2014;Gautam 2014;Hiwasaki et al. 2014;Lilemba and Matemba 2014;Mpofu et al. 2014;Quedraogo et al. 2014;Robinson et al. 2015;Zhasa et al. 2015;Rivera-Ferre et al. 2016), irrigation system management (e.g., Poudel and Sharma 2012;Parajuli 2013) and sustainable construction practices (e.g., Gautam et al. 2016). Even though indigenous practices are meritorious, it is understudied topic until now. ...
This paper reports the indigenous water management system (IWMS) practiced in Bhaktapur city of Nepal. Based on rationality and efficacy, we have analyzed IWMS of Bhaktapur city. Using expert consultation, site visit, archival study and comparative case study approach we concluded that the traditional system was efficient and rational in terms of cascaded water use and water harvesting. We have presented the traditional water conveyance and reusability practices for the historical settlement. The sum of our study highlights that revitalization of IWMS is possible in Bhaktapur city.
... D. exilis and D. iburua contain on average per 100 g of edible grains about 8% protein, 75% carbohydrate and 6.8% dietary fiber (Table 1) (Brink 2006a). Due to its higher content of essential amino acids, methionine and cysteine compared to wheat, rye, barley, rice sorghum and maize, it is referred to as the most nutritious cereal grain (Table 1) (Vodouhè et al. 2007;Koroch et al. 2013;Ballogou et al. 2014). The grains are gluten-free and suitable for curing coeliac disease (Taylor et al. 2006) and its consumption is beneficial for lactating women and diabetic patients (Vodouhè et al. 2007). ...
... However, owing to fonio importance, there have been several calls for breeding for improved fonio varieties, and conservation and uses of its genetic resources (Barnaud et al. 2013). Additionally, calls for improved cultural practices, processing and marketability have been reported (Gigou et al. 2009;Koreissi-Dembélé et al. 2013;Ballogou et al. 2014). There has been recent research on fonio improvement and related cereal species that need to be discussed to orient future research on the crop. ...
... Fonio grains are small in size (1000 grains weigh on average 0.44 g); their handling and processing (threshing, winnowing, dehulling, whitening) are hard and toilsome task in absence of appropriate technologies. These challenges have been for long and still being some of the reasons behind the neglected status of this crop (Ballogou et al. 2014). However, progress has been made across some of the fonio growing areas (Mali, Burkina-Faso, Guinea) with the designing of machines to reduce the tiresomeness of post-harvest operations (Marouzé et al. 2008). ...
Fonio plays an important role in food security and in income generation, in drought prone areas of West Africa. This review aimed at highlighting fonio production constraints, breeding objectives and available genetic resources for fonio improvement. Lack of institutional support to research, lack of improved seeds, parasitic weed infestation, grain shattering, lodging and toilsome of the post-harvest handling are the major constraints limiting fonio production. These factors lead to negligence of the crop notwithstanding its high nutritional and market values. Breeding programs on fonio should first focus on solving these problems to improve overall yield. We explored the potential of mutation breeding, somaclonal variation, somatic hybridization, molecular markers, comparative genomics, individualized targeting induced local lesions in genomes (iTILLING), genotype by sequencing and genomic selection to develop improved fonio varieties. Determination of ploidy level, wide collection and characterization of fonio genetic resources, definition of core reference set collection, and exploitation of heterosis are some key research areas that would be of great interest in fonio improvement. However, this can only be achieved with adequate funding and institutional support.
... The United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples highlighted the need of special attention to the water rights to such groups; however, no adequate measures and interventions can be seen worldwide. Indigenous knowledge has diverse merits in terms of water management (e.g., Ostrom 1990;Zaman et al. 2011;Codjoe et al. 2013;Fadhili et al. 2013;Ballogou et al. 2014;McDonald 2014, 2015;Chaudhry et al. 2014;Chibememe et al. 2014;David and Ploeger 2014;Gautam 2014;Hiwasaki et al. 2014;Lilemba and Matemba 2014;Mpofu et al. 2014;Quedraogo et al. 2014;Robinson et al. 2015;Zhasa et al. 2015;Rivera-Ferre et al. 2016), irrigation system management (e.g., Poudel and Sharma 2012;Parajuli 2013) and sustainable construction practices (e.g., Gautam et al. 2016). Even though indigenous practices are meritorious, it is understudied topic until now. ...
This paper reports the indigenous water management system (IWMS) practiced in Bhaktapur city of Nepal. Based on rationality and efficacy, we have analyzed IWMS of Bhaktapur city. Using expert consultation, site visit, archival study and comparative case study approach we concluded that the traditional system was efficient and rational in terms of cascaded water use and water harvesting. We have presented the traditional water conveyance and reusability practices for the historical settlement. The sum of our study highlights that revitalization of IWMS is possible in Bhaktapur city.
Fonio (Digitaria exilis), also called “acha” in Nigeria, is a staple food crop that plays an important role in food and nutritional security for millions of people in West Africa. However, in Nigeria, as in most African countries where it is consumed as a whole grain to enrich local diets, its utilization patterns are poorly documented. Thus, generating knowledge of stakeholders’ perceptions of and preferences for its use is critical for understanding the constraints and drivers affecting fonio utilization patterns. The main objective of this study was to review the utilization patterns of fonio by providing key information on stakeholders’ perceptions and preferences in Nigeria. In this review, we first discuss production and synthesize some basic information relevant to different uses of fonio and stakeholders’ perceptions of and preferences for such use. We also examine how farmers often maintain fonio diversity, highlight challenges that limit production and consumption on a wide scale and propose a roadmap for scaling up production and increasing the adoption level of fonio. The roadmap proposed in this study is based on five axes, namely, production, innovation in postharvest and processing technologies, marketing systems, technology dissemination, and novel gene prospecting. We assume that documenting the generated knowledge will increase public awareness of the nutritional and health properties associated with food-based products and help guide policy-makers and the private sector to strategically support the research and development of the native crop of West Africa for sustainable food and nutritional security. Further ethnobotanical research will be necessary to shed light on the extent and patterns of indigenous knowledge of fonio-based traditional foods in Nigeria.
Description of the Small millets and its genetic resources
