Sustainability and gender implications of peri-urban on-farm conservation of crop resources for food and agriculture
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Date
2019-04-15Author
Oluoko-Odingo, A. A
Type
ArticleLanguage
en_USMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) which form a large
proportion of biological diversity are under threat. Sustainability of such crop resources
can only be assured through their ex situ and/or in situ (on-farm) conservation. Farm
households (market gardens as referred to in the article), play a key role on in situ
conservation. This article recognises this important contribution of on-farm conservation
of crop resources in urban and peri-urban areas and examines the effects of household size
and reproductive health services on-farm crop conservation as well as strategies in place
to deal with the issue of increasing household size. Gender equity and equality is
underscored in ensuring manageable household population and the conservation of
PGRFA. In this article, crop resources diversity, productivity and sustainability is a
function of socio-cultural-economic and political factors and biophysical variables in
accordance with the human-ecological systems approach. The study was carried out in
peri-urban area of Nairobi using a sample size of 400 farms or market gardens. The main
objective was to examine the effect of household size on crop resources conservation in
peri-urban areas as well as measures taken by market gardens to reduce household size
including gender implications of such efforts. The Chi-square statistic was employed in
investigating whether there was any association between number of children (household
size) and the conservation of crop resources (crop diversity within the farm) and also to
establish an association between use of Reproductive health services (as a major
population control mechanisms) and experiences of gender-based violence. In both cases,
the null hypothesis of no association was rejected. The findings showed that market
gardens with fewer children were better in crop resources conservation, with more
diversity found in market gardens with less than six children. The null hypotheses tested
established an association between household size (number of children) and crop
resources conservation as well as methods of population management (use of
Reproductive health services) and gender-based violence. Education and awareness
creation on the importance of fewer children on crop resources conservation and
sustainability and the need to reduce gender-based violence formed part of the
recommendations.
URI
http://uonjournals.uonbi.ac.ke/ojs/index.php/jsep/article/view/204http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/154840
Citation
Oluoko-Odingo, A. A. (2019). Sustainability and gender implications of Peri-urban on-farm conservation of crop resources for food and agriculture. Journal of Sustainability, Environment and Peace, 1(3), 76-83.Publisher
JSEP