sustainable use of food plant diversity, including the
dietary-diversity based interventions described in
this volume, is the preferred option and is advanta-
geous for several reasons: 1) it is readily available to
local people to use; 2) both the genetic and cultural
diversity is conserved; 3) biocultural evolution of the
food system can continue, adapting to local needs
over time and 4) users have a high level of control
over their food resources.
4.1 Case study of community conservation – TATRO
Women’s Group in Western Kenya
TATRO Women’s Group is based in the Western
Province of Kenya, in the Yala Division of Kiswero
District. Since 1993, they have worked with local,
national and international agricultural research
organizations, directly impacting nearly 500 families.
In 2005, in collaboration with the National Museums
of Kenya, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, they
undertook a needs assessment for the conservation
of traditional food plants (Nyamwamu et al., 2005).
The study revealed that three food plant species, Osae,
Obuchieni and Onunga (Aframomum angustifolium
(Sonn.) K.Schum.,Tristemma mauritianumJ.F.Gmel.
andRubus apetalusPoir.) had been lost from the
area in recent years. A further 50 food plants, and
the knowledge on how to use them, were only
known by community elders. Harvesting of tradi-
tional food plants had decreased on cultivated and
uncultivated land, and food preferences and cash
cropping were driving an increase in the cultivation
of exotic cereals and pulses. In addition, wild fruits
such as Ojuelo (Vitex donianaSweet) were once
plentiful but were becoming harder to find as more
land came under cultivation. These findings were
unexpected, particularly to TATRO members. In re-
sponse, they compiled a list of community experts,
and organized activities for the sharing of seeds and
traditional knowledge of “at risk” food plants. Cur-
rent activities, focused on a community resource
centre in Yala Village, include the promotion of
growing traditional food plants in kitchen gardens,
on communal land and integrating their use in
school feeding projects, together with outreach
work in Western Nyanza.
Despite such efforts, conservation-through-use
may not be enough to adequately protect wild food
plants for the sustainable diets of the future. With
slow-onset climate change exacerbating other
threats, “in situdiversity needs to be collected
before it disappears” (FAO, 2011a).
Ex situseed banking can complement such com-
munity-based activities, and has several advantages:
1) a wide range of genetic diversity is conserved; 2)
well maintained seed banks can conserve seeds for
decades or hundreds of years; 3) seed banks can
support reintroduction of food plants to areas where
they have been lost; 4) seed bank collections, sup-
ported by herbarium specimens, provide a verified
source of material for screening for genetic diver-
sity in nutritional properties and other desirable
traits; 5) germination protocols developed by seed
banks are a useful starting point for projects wish-
ing to promote the use of lesser known and under-
utilized food plants.
The use of seed banking, as a means of conserving,
and making available the genetic diversity of food
plants is well established. International centres
around the world have global mandates for the con-
servation of the major food crop species. Although
FAO (2010) reports “a growing interest in collecting
and conserving minor, neglected and underutilized
crops” few wild food plants are conserved in seed
banks. Of the global germplasm holdings for which
the type of accession – advanced cultivar, breeding
line, landrace, wild species – is known, only 1 0 percent
are wild species, most of them industrial and
ornamental or forage species (FAO, 2010).4.2 Case study of Seed Banking – The Millennium
Seed Bank Partnership (MSBP)
The MSBP is the world’s largest initiative to collect,
conserve and promote the use of wild plant species,
involving major collaborations with 1 8 countries111