Why agro-biodiversity conservation - who is responsible for what?

Abstract

Agro-biodiversity conservation is an important ingredient with potential for food security and for medicinal purposes. In the marginal semi-arid areas of the world, there is often nutritional deficiency due to low level of edible flora diversity during most parts of the year. Availability and knowledge on the utilisation of available indigenous and traditional flora as a food source is therefore important to alleviate nutritional and health problems of people in these areas. In Tanzania for example, there are several species of indigenous plants, both herbs, shrubs and trees available in both marginal and fertile areas with high rainfall areas which are either known or unknown to the local people as nutritional and medicinal plants. An example of such plants available in Tanzania is shown in Table 1. However, the current situation indicates that loss of agrobiodiversity is on the increase. It is estimated that about 34,000 species, constituting about 12.4% of plant species are in the danger of being extinct. This results into the depletion of food to the rural and urban people and loss of plants for healing various ailments for animals, plants and humans.