Agro-biodiversity and challenges of on-farm conservation: the case of plant genetic resources of neglected and underutilized crop species in Ghana

Neglected and underutilized crop species (NUS) are important genetic resources for nutrition, food security, medicine, management of agricultural risk and income generation for rural communities in Ghana. Little is known about their diversity, farmers’ management practices and safety of NUS conserved on-farm while these are prerequisites for developing strategic action plans to ensure their conservation and thus their continued utilization. This study was designed to (1) assess the diversity, forms of consumption and management practices of NUS in Ghana, (2) investigate constraints of on-farm conservation of NUS and the linkage between cultural practices in traditional farming systems and the safety of the NUS conserved on-farm in Ghana. A survey involving 1800 respondents was carried out in nine (9) farming villages of Ghana using participatory research appraisal tools. Seventy-two NUS species were identified on farmers’ field. The grouping of these species into major commodity crops suggests high diversity of NUS genetic resources in Ghana which could be used to further enhance nutrition and food security. The high market value of some of the NUS species suggest that they are well known and consumed. Mass use of systemic weedicides by farmers, activities of herdsmen and lack of knowledge on conservation of seeds and tubers are the main factors reported by farmers as the cause of genetic erosion of NUS on their farms. These findings create an urgency to collect and conserve genetic resources of NUS in Ghana to promote their utilization and breeding of improved varieties.