1,720,999 research outputs found
Towards a domestication strategy for indigenous fruit trees in the tropics
No full text[Extract] Increasingly, agroforestry trees are being improved in quality and productivity through the processes of market-driven domestication {Simons, 1996; Simons and Leakey, 2004; Leakey et al., 2005d}, based on strategies which consider: (i) the needs of the farmers, their priorities for domestication (Maghembe et al.,1998; Franzel et al., Chapter 1, this volume) and an inventory of the natural resource {Shackleton et al., 2003a}; (ii) the sustainable production of agroforestry tree products, including fruits, nuts, medicinals and nutriceuticals,timber, etc.; (iii) the restoration of degraded land and reduction of deforestation; and (IV) the wise use and conservation of genetic resources. These approaches to tree domestication are being implemented in southern Africa (Akinnifesi et al., 2006)
Physiological approaches to the conservation and improvement of Triplochiton scleroxylon - a West African timber tree
Full text linkThe domestication of indigenous trees as the basis of a strategy for sustainable land use
No full textThe sustainability of land use in the tropics has typically been lost when species-rich natural vegetation has been cleared to make way for monocultures of improved staple food crops grown intensively with high inputs of agrochemicals. These intensive fanning systems have indeed helped to feed growing human populations, but at an environment cost that cannot be tolerated into the future. One suggestion for an acceptable alternative that both feeds the people and restores some of the diversity found in natural vegetation, is the development of lower input agroecosystems that combine the cultivation of 'Green Revolution' staple food crops with a number of the indigenous food producing tree species that can restore ecosystem function. This return towards more traditional land use practices can be enhanced by the judicious development of high quality, high yielding cultivars of the trees through the adaptation of standard horticultural practices, and planting of these cultivars in agroforests. In dryland Africa, there are many traditionally important tree species producing marketable nontimber forest products, which have potential to be domesticated in this way. The techniques, methodologies and strategies exist and are being implemented in a small way. A few species are already being domesticated with the participation of local communities. There is the potential to expand these programmes to a scale where they can start to have meaningful impact on land use and create new more biologically diverse, functioning agroecosystems, which also support and enhance the livelihoods of local people. This would be a good example of "Promoting Best Practices for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity of Global Significance in Arid and Semi-arid Zones"
Protecting the rights of farmers and communities while securing long term market access for producers of non-timber forest products: experience in Southern Africa
No full textThe participatory domestication of agroforestry trees as an incentive to alleviate poverty, malnutrition, hunger and land degradation has to be linked to the commercialization of the products in ways that ensure that the farmers are the beneficiaries of their germplasm improvement activities, as well as from the marketing of the products. Currently, international law is deficient in providing adequate protection of the rights of poor farmers and their communities as the legal instruments of Intellectual Property legislation are focussed more on the protection of commercial companies and entrepreneurs. PhytoTrade Africa is engaged in addressing the sustainable use and commercialisation of natural products produced by indigenous plants, especially trees of the Miombo woodlands in southern Africa. Initially the market focus has been on wild-harvested naturally occurring resources using innovative approaches to protecting the Intellectual Property Rights of poor communities and the businesses they work with, including Patents, Trade Marks, and Geographical Indicators, with the intention of securing long term strategic market access and to be able to influence commercial strategy. The approach which has been developed is to work with indigenous communities and local companies and to help them to secure long-term access to these markets through the protection of their intellectual property rights. Experience to date indicates that, by enabling market opportunities for these local resources, significant livelihood options for otherwise marginalised farmers and producers can be facilitated. Partnerships between producers and the local-to-global cosmetic, food, beverage, herbal medicine and pharmaceutical industries are developed by carefully constructing commercial agreements with leaders in the relevant sector. Critically this involves the establishment of a strong and viable trade association that is forward thinking and market oriented. Through these partnerships it is possible to ensure long term relationships and supply agreements. Such agreements ensure that the target producers remain in the value chain. This paper also explores opportunities for protecting farmer-improved germplasm through the registration of Plant Breeders Rights in compliance with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and proposals for an affiliated African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI)
Progeny and clone X site interaction in Troplochiton scleroxylon K. SCHUM in southern Nigeria
No full textUnderutilised species as the backbone of multifunctional agriculture: the next wave of crop domestication
No full textThe International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) defined multifunctional agriculture as the inescapable interconnectedness of agriculture's different roles and functions: namely the production of food and non-food commodities; delivery of environmental services; the improvement of rural livelihoods; and the upholding of traditional crops and local culture. Together these outputs should create greater environmental, social and economic sustainability. These goals mirror those of agroforestry, which has been described as a significant mechanism for the delivery of multifunctional agriculture. Agroforestry outputs are delivered in three steps: i) rehabilitation of degraded land; ii) the domestication of underutilised plant species; and iii) the commercialisation of agroforestry tree products (AFTPs). Interestingly, past crop domestication has been credited with being a "perquisite for the development of settled, politically centralised, socially stratified, economically complex and technologically innovative societies". While there is good evidence of this, the benefits of modern agriculture based on staple food crops have not been equitably distributed and developing country farmers have been marginalised. In the mid-1990s a new wave of participatory crop domestication was initiated. This second wave of domestication, led by the World Agroforestry Centre, has focused on underutilised tropical trees producing highly nutritious fruits and nuts which provide the everyday needs of smallholder farmers. Recent evidence from Cameroon indicates that the domestication of these new tree crops within an integrated approach to rural development delivering multifunctional agriculture, can transform the lives of poor farmers. It also has positive impacts on the environment and creates new business and employment opportunities in rural communities. Thus it seems that, if widely implemented, this new pro-poor wave of domestication could have large impacts on global food production and the alleviation of malnutrition, hunger and poverty in developing countries
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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