Plant-Based Agrobiodiversity in Home Gardens of Tubah Sub-Division, North-West Region, Cameroon
Useful plants in Tubah subdivision's homegardens
Keywords:
Biodiversity; Useful Plants; Home Garden; Mezam Division; Western Highlands; Cameroon.Abstract
Home gardens are subsistent agricultural production systems consisting of diverse crop plants which are easily accessible and adjacent to homesteads. They sustainably contribute to livelihoods in developing countries. Regarding the modernization in tropical Africa, there are changes in plant composition of urbanizing areas like Tubah Sub-Division, North West Region, Cameroon while the useful plant diversity in home gardens are poorly or not documented. This study aims to assess the diversity of useful plant species and identify key factors that influence diversity. 120 selected home gardens from Tubah Sub-Division were surveyed using two complementary field sampling approaches: interaction with selected households head through the use of structured questionnaires on garden plants and direct field observation. To assess plant abundance, the entire home garden was considered as a sample plot for tree, shrub, climber and epiphytic plant species while for herbaceous species, five quadrats of 1 m2 were used to count each species. A total of 133 useful plant species belonging to 108 genera and 47 families were recorded, with the number of species varying among the villages. The dominating families were Solanaceae, Fabaceae and Asteraceae. Age of household head and age of home garden were the key factors which significantly influenced the plant diversity. As home gardens in Tubah Sub-Division consist of diverse garden plants which are of great importance, we suggest that home gardening should be promoted, through education and extension services. This study should also be extended to other parts of the North West Region.
References
Odebode OS. Assessment of home gardening as a potential source of household income in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. Nigeria J Horti Sci. 2006, 2:47-55. DOI:10.4314/NJHS.V11I1.3398
Kumar BM, Nair PKR. Tropical Home Gardens: A Time-Tested Example of Sustainable Agroforestry. India: Environmental Experts. 2006.
FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations]. What is agrobiodiversity? In: Building on gender, agrobiodiversity and local knowledge. FAO. 2004.
Karyono. Home gardens in Java: their structure and functions. In: Landauer K, Brazil M. (eds.): Tropical Home gardens. Tokyo, Japan, United Nations University Press. 1990, 138-146.
Concepción ED, Moretti M, Altermatt F, Nobis PM, Obrist KM. Impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity: the role of species mobility, degree of specialisation and spatial scale. Oikos. 2015, 124: 1571–1582. doi.org/10.1111/oik.02166
Mapongmetsem PM, Nkongmeneck BA, Alexandre YD, Salbai A, Haoua M. Jardins de case et sécurité alimentaire dans les savanes soudano-guinéennes (Adamaoua, Cameroun). Com. Sympo. Méga-Tchad. 2002.
Akrofi SPC, Struik, Price LL. Interactive effects of HIV/AIDS and household headship determine home garden diversity in the Eastern Region of Ghana, NJAS–Wageningen. J Life Sci. 2008, 56(3):201–217. doi:10.1016/S1573-5214(08)80008-5
Balooni K, Gangopadhyay K, Kumar BM. Governance for private green spaces in a growing Indian city. Landscape and Urban Planning. 2014, 123:21–29. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2013.12.004
Asongwe GA, Yerima BPK, Tening SA. Vegetable Production and the Livelihood of Farmers in Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon. Int J Curr Microbiol App Sci. 2014, 3(12): 682-700.
Njoh BD, Feldt T, Seeger C et al., Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Bamenda: A Policy Narrative. SHUMAS UrbanFoodPlus RUAF Foundation and the Bamenda Multi-Stakeholder Platform. 2018.
Peyre A, Guidal A, Wiersum KF, Bongers F. Dynamics of home garden structure and function in Kerala, India. AgroforestrySystems, 2006, 66:101–115.
Focho DA, Nkeng EAP, Fonge BA, Fongod CN, Muh TWN, Afegenui A. Diversity of plants used to treat respiratory diseases in Tubah North West Region, Cameroon. Afr J Pharm Pharmacol. 2009, 3(11):573-580.
Tsitoh P, Bechem EET. Floristic Diversity, Distribution and Analysis of Forest Cover Change in the Kedjom Keku Forest, NW Cameroon. Open J Ecol. 2019, 9: 273-292.
Ndenecho EN. Implications of Fuel Wood Yield, Availability and Harvest in Tubah Mountain Forest, Cameroon. Glob J Hum Soc Sci. 2009, 10: 49-55.
Yuninui NM. Initiation practical report on Bambili Village. Research report, Regional College of Agriculture, Bambili. Cameroon. 1990, p.45.doi.org/10.1111/oik.02166
Martin GJ, Ethnobotany: A people and plants’ conservation manual. London: Chapman & Hall. 1995.
Alexiades MN, Sheldon JW. Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research: A field manual. New York: The New York Botanical Garden Press. 1996.
Latham P. Useful plants of bas-Congo province, democratic republic of Congo. Second edition. Congo: Paul L. 2004.
Perez RJA. Flore exotique des iles canaries. Deuxieme edition. Imprime en Espagnes. 2003.
Tynsong H, Tiwari BK. Plant Diversity in the Home gardens and their Significance in the Livelihoods of War Khasi Community of Meghalaya, North-east India. J Biodivers. 2010, 1(1): 1-11. doi.org/10.1080/09766901.2010.11884713
Evrad C. Recherches écologiques sur le peuplement forestier des sols hydromorphes de la Cuvette central congloaise. Institute pour l’étudeagronomique du Congo.1968.
Raunkiaer C. The Life form of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography. The Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1934.
Shannon CE, Wiener W. The Mathematical Theory of Communication. Urbana: University Illinois Press. 1963.
Sorensen T. A method of establishing groups of equal amplitude in plant sociology based on similarity of species content, Biological Science, 1948, 5: 1-34.
Panyadee P, Henrik B, Prasit W, Angkhana L. Woody Plant Diversity in Urban Home gardens in Northern Thailand. Economic Botany. 2016, 70(3):285-302. doi.org/10.1007/s12231-016-9348-9
Mapongmetsem PM, Diédhio L, Constant P, Layaida N, Wérémé A, Alexandre DY. Situation et dynamique des jardins de case en Asie du Sud -Est : cas de la province de kandal (Cambodge). In:Mbofung CM, Etoa F.X (eds ) Proceed Bioscience. 2000, 7:396-402.
Shukla G, Vineeta, Anjali K, Chakravarty S. Plant diversity, structure and uses of the plants in home garden of Jharkhand, India. Indian J Trop Biodivers. 2017, 25(1): 40-50.
Mekonnen EL, Asfaw Z, Zewudie S. Plant species diversity of homegarden agroforestry in Jabithenan District, North-Western Ethiopia. Int J Biodivers Conserv. 2014, 301-307. doi.org/10.5897/IJBC2013.0677
Reta R. Useful plant species diversity in home gardens and its contribution to household food security in Hawassa city, Ethiopia. Afr J Plant Sci. 2016, 10(10):211-233. doi:10.5897/AJPS2016.1439
Kebebew M. Diversity and Management of Useful Homegardens Plant Species in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia: Implication for Plant Diversity Conservation and Food Security. Int J Econ Plants. 2018, 5(3):137-148.
Pamungkas RN, Hakim L. Ethnobotanical investment to conserve home garden species of plants in Tambakrejo, Sumbermanjing Wetan, Southern of Malang. J Trop Life Sci. 2013, 3 (2): 96-103.
Mapongmetsem P, Etchiké MD, Ngassoum MB. Conservation et valorisation de la biodiversité dans les agroforêts de la zone périurbaine de la ville Bafia (Région du Centre au Cameroun) Revue Scientifique et Technique Forêt et Environnement du Bassin du Congo. 2016, 6:60-69.
Hamawa Y, Mapongmetsem PM. Crops diversity and typology of home gardens of Galim- Tignere (Adamawa, Cameroon). Int J Agrofor Silvicul. 2018, 6 (2):343-353.
Ávila JVC, Mello AS, Beretta ME, Trevisan R, Fiaschi P, Hanazaki N. Agrobiodiversity and in situ conservation in quilombola home gardens with different intensities of urbanization. Acta Botanica Brasilica. 2017, 31(1): 1-10. doi.org/10.1590/0102
McKinney ML. Urbanization, Biodiversity and Conservation. Biological Science. 2002, 52(10):883-890.doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0883:UBAC]2.0.CO;2
Nair PKR. Whither home gardens? In: Kumar BM, Nair PKR. (eds). Tropical home gardens: a time-tested example of sustainable agroforestry, Dordrecht: Springer Science. 2006, 355–370.
Wiersum KF. Diversity and change in home garden cultivation in Indonesia. In: Kumar BM, Nair PKR. (eds.), Tropical home gardens: A time-tested example of sustainable agroforestry. Springer, Netherlands. 2006, 3:13-24.
Caballero J. Maya home gardens: Past, present and future. Etnoecológica. 1992, 1:35-54.
Barbero M, Bonin G, Loisel R, Quzel P. Changes and disturbance of forest ecosystems caused by human activities in the western part of the Meditterranean basin. Vegetation. 1990, 87: 151-173.
Marco A, Dutoit T, Deschamps-Cottin M, Mauffrey J-F, Vennetier M, Bertaudière-Montes V. Gardens in urbanizing rural areas reveal an unexpected floral diversity related to housing density. CR Biologies 2008, 331: 452–465.
Tchiengue B, Neumann K, Wittig R, Becker U. Chromolaena odorata thickets in forest recovery in southern Cameroon. Scripta Botanica Belgica. 2013, 50: 121-129.
Balgah RA. A gender analysis of vulnerability to climate-related food shortages in developing countries. The case of Cameroon, Int J Dev Res. 2017, 7(9): 15065-15074.
Coomes OT, Ban N. Cultivated plant species diversity in home gardens of an Amazonian peasant village in northeastern Peru. Economic Botany. 2004, 59:420-434.
Quiroz C, Gutiérrez M, Rodríguez D et al. Home gardens and insitu conservation of agrobiodiversiy-Venezuelan component. In: J.W. Watson & Eyzaguirre P. (eds). 17-19 July 2001: Second International Home Garden Workshop, Witzenhausen, Germany, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). 2001; 73-82. doi:10.1023/A:1023973623247
Bannister ME, Nair PKR. Agroforestry adoption in Haiti: The importance of household and farm characteristics. Agroforestry Systems, 2003, 57(2):149-157.
Blanckaert L, Swennen R, Paredes-Flores M, Rosas LR, Lira-Saade R. Florstic composition, plant uses and management practices in home gardens of San Rafael Coxcatlán, valley of Tehuacán-Cuicatlán, Mexico. J Arid Environ. 2004, 57:179-202.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Algerian journal of Biosciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
