Ethnobotanical knowledge and sustainable food system development in Africa.

该项目将研究被忽视和未得到充分利用的作物物种(NUCS)的民族植物学知识如何促进非洲的可持续粮食系统发展。民族植物学知识是一种与更大规模的科学和商业知识相对的地方性食品和农业知识(Quave和Pieroni，2015)。核作物是本土传统作物--块茎、谷物、蔬菜和水果，尽管在当地具有很高的重要性，但与具有商业重要性的主要作物相比，农业研究和政策制定者要么没有给予足够的重视，要么完全忽视了这些作物(Padulosi等人，2013年)。研究问题支撑这项研究的首要研究问题是：民族植物学知识如何有助于可持续食品系统的发展？以及当地可获得的、气候适应性强的被忽视的本土和传统作物品种以及野生可食用物种如何支持当地粮食系统的转型？为了帮助回答这一首要问题，将探讨以下具体问题。1)谁(如男性、女性或老年人)对Nucs有民族植物学知识？拥有这些知识意味着什么？这些知识如何被边缘化，它们的价值如何被重新表达？2)加纳被忽视的野生、土著和传统作物物种的多样性是什么？3)对加纳贫穷的小农来说，优先物种及其在粮食安全和经济繁荣中的作用是什么？4)对这些优先物种的可获得性、保护状况、用途、栽培和管理做法有什么看法？研究的哲学和方法将以实用主义为基础。语用学认识到，开展研究有许多不同的方法，没有一个单一的观点能够给出完整的图景，而且可能存在多种现实(Saunders等人，2012年)。为了理解这些多重现实的表现，它主张整合多种研究方法--定量和定性研究方法--研究中的混合方法(Creswell 2013)。数据收集-在民族植物学研究中使用了不同的方法来收集关于个人民族植物学知识的数据。该项目将采用混合方法从农民和农业科学家那里收集定量和定性数据。数据分析--民族植物学研究历史上主要依靠数据分析的定性方法(Garcia等人，2007年)。为了提高科学质量，学者们建议民族植物学研究应该更加量化(Phillips，1996)。将采用定性和定量的数据分析方法。民族植物学研究的定性方法是对土著知识进行仔细的定性描述所必需的。对于量化方法，本研究将遵循举报人共识的方法。这个项目的意义这个项目将对知识做出重要的贡献，因为，关于核和它们周围的当地民族植物学知识，以及它们如何用于可持续的食物转化的研究已经非常有限。在实际发展方面，这项研究将对加纳的政策制定者和其他利益攸关方非常有用，有助于制定政策，并针对国家核心国家采取干预措施。

This project will examine how ethnobotanical knowledge of Neglected and underutilised crop species (NUCS) can enhance sustainable food system development in Africa. Ethnobotanical knowledge is a situated, local knowledges of food and agriculture, which can be opposed to larger scale scientific and commercial knowledges (Quave and Pieroni, 2015). NUCS are indigenous and traditional crops - tubers, grains, vegetables and fruits which, despite being of high local importance, have either been given insufficient attention or entirely ignored by agricultural research and policy-makers compared with major crops with commercial importance (Padulosi et al., 2013). Research QuestionsThe overarching research question that will underpin this study is: How can ethnobotanical knowledge of NUCS contribute to sustainable food system development? And how can locally available and climate-resilient neglected indigenous and traditional crop varieties and wild edible species support local food system transformation?To help answer the overarching question, the following specific questions will be explored. 1) Who (e.g. men, women or older people) has ethnobotanical knowledges of NUCS? What does having this knowledge mean? How do such knowledges become marginalised and how can their value be re-expressed?2) What is the diversity of the neglected wild, indigenous and traditional crop species in Ghana?3) What are the priority species and their role in food security and economic prosperity for the poor smallholder farmers in Ghana?4) What is the perceptions of availability, conservation status, uses, cultivation and management practices of these priority species?Research Philosophy and ApproachThe study will be underpinned by Pragmatism. Pragmatics recognise that there are many different ways of undertaking research, that no single point of view can ever give the entire picture and that there may be multiple realities (Saunders et al., 2012). And to understand the manifestation of these multiple realities, it advocates for an integration of multiple research methods - quantitative and qualitative research approaches - mixed methods approach in research (Creswell 2013). Data collection - Different methods have been used in ethnobotanical studies to collect data on individual ethnobotanical knowledge. The project will employ a mixed method approach to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from farmers and agricultural scientists.Data analysis - Ethnobotanical studies, historically, have predominantly relied on qualitative methods of data analysis (Garcia et al., 2007). To merit an enhanced scientific quality, scholars suggested that ethnobotanical studies should become more quantitative (Phillips, 1996). Both qualitative and quantitative approaches of data analysis will be employed. Qualitative approach to ethnobotanical studies is needed for a careful qualitative description of indigenous knowledge. For the quantitative approach, the study will follow the informant consensus approach. This method calculates the relative importance of each specie directly from the degree of consensus in informants independent responds.Significance of the Project This project will make an important contribution to knowledge because, already, there is very limited research on NUCS and local ethnobotanical knowledge around them and how they can be used for sustainable food transformation. In terms of practical development, this research will be very useful to policy-makers and other stakeholders in Ghana in making policies, and targeting interventions around NUCS.