Classification of East African Crops is a revised modern version of a book first published in 1979. It is a handbooks grouping the crops, timber, and common ornamental plants found in East Africa into 26 classes. The plants are discussed under two broad categories, namely, usage and commercial classifications. the Type A group of plants, based on usage classification, has 19 classes including the famous categories such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, oil crops, fiber crops, and forage and fodder plants amongst others. The Type B group, based on commercial use of the plants, covers food crops, cash crops, commercial horticultural crops, forbidden crops (drug plants), and bee forage or useful plants for honey bees. Each class has a full or brief discussion of the crops or useful plants grown in modern East Africa covering Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. The most important part of the handbooks is the list of all major and minor crops and useful plants in each class containing the English or trade names, the botanical names, and the families to which they belong. The book has over 70 selected colour plates illustrating different crops and other useful plants. It is an excellent handbook for university and college scholars, students, and researchers in agriculture, forestry, environment, and animal husbandry.

Classification of East African Crops Second Edition is a revised modern version of a book first published in 1979. It is a handbooks grouping the crops, timber, and common ornamental plants found in East Africa into 26 classes. The plants are discussed under two broad categories, namely, usage and commercial classifications. the Type A group of plants, based on usage classification, has 19 classes including the famous categories such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, legumes, oil crops, fibre crops, and forage and fodder plants amongst others. The Type B group, based on commercial use of the plants, covers food crops, cash crops, commercial horticultural crops, forbidden crops (drug plants), and bee forage or useful plants for honey bees. Each class has a full or brief discussion of the crops or useful plantas grown in modern East Africa covering Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. The most important part of the handbooks is the list of all major and minor crops and useful plants in each class containing the English or trade names, the botanical names, and the families to which they belong. The book has over 70 selected colour plates illustrating different crops and other useful plants. It is an excellent handbook for university and college scholars, students, and researchers in agriculture, forestry, environment, and animal husbandry.

Scenes of starvation have drawn the world's attention to Africa's agricultural and environmental crisis. Some observers question whether this continent can ever hope to feed its growing population. Yet there is an overlooked food resource in sub-Saharan Africa that has vast potential: native food plants. When experts were asked to nominate African food plants for inclusion in a new book, a list of 30 species grew quickly to hundreds. All in all, Africa has more than 2,000 native grains and fruitsâ€""lost" species due for rediscovery and exploitation. This volume focuses on native cereals, including: African rice, reserved until recently as a luxury food for religious rituals. Finger millet, neglected internationally although it is a staple for millions. Fonio (acha), probably the oldest African cereal and sometimes called "hungry rice." Pearl millet, a widely used grain that still holds great untapped potential. Sorghum, with prospects for making the twenty-first century the "century of sorghum." Tef, in many ways ideal but only now enjoying budding commercial production. Other cultivated and wild grains. This readable and engaging book dispels myths, often based on Western bias, about the nutritional value, flavor, and yield of these African grains. Designed as a tool for economic development, the volume is organized with increasing levels of detail to meet the needs of both lay and professional readers. The authors present the available information on where and how each grain is grown, harvested, and processed, and they list its benefits and limitations as a food source. The authors describe "next steps" for increasing the use of each grain, outline research needs, and address issues in building commercial production. Sidebars cover such interesting points as the potential use of gene mapping and other "high-tech" agricultural techniques on these grains. This fact-filled volume will be of great interest to agricultural experts, entrepreneurs, researchers, and individuals concerned about restoring food production, environmental health, and economic opportunity in sub-Saharan Africa. Selection, Newbridge Garden Book Club

This report is the second in a series of three evaluating underexploited African plant resources that could help broaden and secure Africa's food supply. The volume describes the characteristics of 18 little-known indigenous African vegetables (including tubers and legumes) that have potential as food- and cash-crops but are typically overlooked by scientists and policymakers and in the world at large. The book assesses the potential of each vegetable to help overcome malnutrition, boost food security, foster rural development, and create sustainable landcare in Africa. Each species is described in a separate chapter, based on information gathered from and verified by a pool of experts throughout the world. Volume I describes African grains and Volume III African fruits.

Farming Systems of the African Savanna: A continent in crisis

The first of three books in IFPRI's climate change in Africa series, West African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 11 of the countries that make up West Africa -- Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo -- and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security throughout the region. West Africa's population is expected to grow at least through mid-century. The region will also see income growth. Both will put increased pressure on the natural resources needed to produce food, and climate change makes the challenges greater. West Africa is already experiencing rising temperatures, shifting precipitation patterns, and increasing extreme events. Without attention to adaptation, the poor will suffer. Through the use of hundreds of scenario maps, models, figures, and detailed analysis, the editors and contributors of West African Agriculture and Climate Change present plausible future scenarios that combine economic and biophysical characteristics to explore the possible consequences for agriculture, food security, and resources management to 2050. They also offer recommendations to national governments and regional economic agencies already dealing with the vulnerabilities of climate change and deviations in environment. Decisionmakers and researchers will find West African Agriculture and Climate Change a vital tool for shaping policy and studying the various and likely consequences of climate change.

This groundbreaking book addresses issues of the keenest interest to anthropologists, specialists on Africa, and those concerned with international aid and development. Drawing on extensive research among the Luo people in western Kenya and abroad over many years, Parker Shipton provides an insightful general ethnography. In particular, he focuses closely on nonmonetary forms of exchange and entrustment, moving beyond anthropology's traditional understanding of gifts, loans, and reciprocity. He proposes a new view of the social and symbolic dimensions of economy over the full life course, including transfers between generations. He shows why the enduring cultural values and aspirations of East African people--and others around the world--complicate issues of credit, debt, and compensation. The book examines how the Luo assess obligations to intimates and strangers, including the dead and the not-yet-born. Borrowing, lending, and serial passing along have ritual, religious, and emotional dimensions no less than economic ones, Shipton shows, and insight into these connections demands a broad rethinking of all international aid plans and programs.