Cultivated, caught, and collected: defining culturally appropriate foods in Tallé, Niger

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Cultivated, caught, and collected:defining culturally appropriate foods inTallé, NigerAlexandra M. Towns , Daniel Potter & Sadou IdrissaPublished online: 18 Apr 2013.

To cite this article: Alexandra M. Towns , Daniel Potter & Sadou Idrissa (2013) Cultivated, caught,and collected: defining culturally appropriate foods in Tallé, Niger, Development in Practice, 23:2,169-183, DOI: 10.1080/09614524.2013.771985

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Cultivated, caught, and collected:defining culturally appropriate foods inTalle, Niger

Alexandra M. Towns, Daniel Potter, andSadou Idrissa

The indigenous plants and fish of Niger are incorporated into the Songhai people’s daily life but

are largely underemphasised in development programmes. In this paper we describe the cultu-

rally appropriate foods of Talle, Niger. Based on information obtained from 42 participants

using interviews and focus groups, we identified 11 commonly consumed fish species, 22

plant species, and nine factors that made them culturally appropriate: taste, perceived

health effects, economic value, use as snacks or staple, storability, seasonal availability, use

in celebrations, abundance, and cultural identity. We conclude with a discussion of how

local knowledge can be incorporated into development programmes.

Cultives, peches et cueillis : definir des aliments culturellement appropries a Talle, au NigerLes plantes et le poisson autochtones du Niger sont incorpores dans le quotidien des Songhais,

mais on ne leur accorde generalement pas une attention suffisante dans les programmes de

developpement. Dans cet article, nous decrivons les aliments culturellement appropries de

Talle, au Niger. Sur la base d’informations obtenues de 42 participants a l’aide d’entretiens

et de groupes de reflexion, nous avons identifie 11 especes de poisson frequemment consom-

mees, 22 especes de plantes et neuf facteurs qui les rendent culturellement appropries : gout,

effets percus sur la sante, valeur economique, utilisation comme en-cas ou denrees de base,

facilite de conservation, disponibilite saisonniere, utilisation lors de celebrations, abondance

et identite culturelle. Nous concluons par une discussion sur la maniere dont les connaissances

locales peuvent etre incorporees dans les programmes de developpement.

Cultivados, cazados y recolectados: la definicion de alimentos culturalmente adecuados enTalle, NıgerLas plantas y los peces endemicos de Nıger han sido incorporados a la dieta cotidiana del

pueblo songhai. Sin embargo, dicha dieta recibe escasa atencion de parte de los programas

de desarrollo. En el presente artıculo, los autores analizan aquellos alimentos culturalmente

adecuados en Talle, Nıger. Apoyandose en la informacion recopilada entre 42 personas que

participaron en entrevistas y en grupos de enfoque, los autores identificaron 11 variedades

de peces consumidas con frecuencia, 22 especies de plantas, ası como nueve factores que deter-

minan que estos alimentos sean culturalmente adecuados: sabor, efectos percibidos en la salud,

valor economico de los mismos, posibilidad de uso como tentempies o como alimentos princi-

# 2013 Taylor & Francis 169

Development in Practice, 2013

Vol. 23, No. 2, 169–183, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2013.771985

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pales, perıodo de almacenamiento, disponibilidad estacional, uso de los mismos en celebra-

ciones, abundancia e identidad cultural. El ensayo concluye realizando un analisis acerca

de como los conocimientos locales pueden ser incorporados a los programas de desarrollo.

Cultivados, colhidos e coletados: definindo alimentos culturalmente apropriados em Talle,NıgerAs plantas e peixes consumidos pelos indıgenas de Nıger estao incorporados na vida cotidiana

das pessoas de Songhai mas, geralmente, recebem pouco destaque nos programas de desenvol-

vimento. Neste artigo, descrevemos os alimentos culturalmente apropriados de Talle, Nıger.

Com base nas informacoes obtidas de 42 participantes utilizando entrevistas e grupos de

enfoque, identificamos 11 especies de peixe frequentemente consumidas, 22 especies de

plantas e nove fatores que os tornam culturalmente apropriados: paladar, percepcao de seus

efeitos na saude, valor economico, uso como aperitivo ou alimento basico, armazenagem, dis-

ponibilidade sazonal, uso em comemoracoes, abundancia e identidade cultural. Concluımos

com uma discussao de como o conhecimento local pode ser incorporado em programas de

desenvolvimento.

KEY WORDS: Environment (built and natural) – Food security; Methods; Social sector–Health;Sub-Saharan Africa

Introduction

Across sub-Saharan Africa, local food systems include not only cultivated staple grains, but

also diverse indigenous plants and wild fish and game. The alimentary cultures of human

populations have evolved with these local resources over time. The gathering and consump-

tion of wild plant resources are intrinsically related to local palate, nutrition, medicine, and

cultural heritage (Pieroni and Price 2006). Wild foods serve to meet the nutritional require-

ments of human populations in times of scarcity (Humphry et al. 1993) and when staple

foods are readily available. In spite of the rich culture surrounding these wild foods and

the vital role that local food systems play in supporting rural populations (Pimbert 2009),

they are largely overlooked in development programmes. For example, sub-Saharan countries

rarely have specific policies on traditional vegetables (Shackleton, Pasquini, and Drescher

2009). Most agricultural development programmes focus on increasing productivity and com-

mercialising agriculture without recognising that a shift away from traditional systems often

leads to a loss in dietary diversity and a decreased nutritional status (Fleuret and Fleuret

1980; Frison et al. 2006 ). For over three decades, researchers have cautioned that the

lack of attention to wild foods and traditional food systems will further threaten the well-

being of rural people (Fleuret and Fleuret 1980; Doughty 1979; Grivetti and Ogle 2000).

Yet the development community still neglects to include local food preferences in their

initiatives.

In Niger, West Africa, wild foods are deeply embedded in all aspects of the lives of rural

people. For the Songhai people of Niger, like other Sahelian ethnic groups (Glew et al. 1997),

local foods are steeped in centuries-old alimentary traditions, but also meet present-day nutri-

tional, economic, and cultural needs. The Songhai-Zarma people are the second largest ethnic

group in Niger and live in the west, along the borders with Burkina Faso and Mali. Songhai vil-

lages are located along the Niger River and its seasonal tributaries, which support diverse fish and

plant populations year-round. They are known by other Nigerien ethnic groups as “the fish eaters”,

170 Development in Practice, Volume 23, Number 2, April 2013

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but they also consume diverse species of annual herbs, perennials, and trees. With an estimate that

29 per cent of the Nigerien population is undernourished (FAO 2010), there are numerous devel-

opment initiatives focusing on improving agriculture, nutrition, and natural resource conservation

in the country. However, food-based nutrition intervention strategies such as these are often

implemented without substantial knowledge of the locally available wild foods or their nutritional

properties (Yang and Keding 2009). Nutrition intervention programmes have largely been

focused on increasing consumption of single nutrients, such as vitamin A or iron, in contrast to

supporting dietary diversity (Frison et al. 2006). Foreign vegetable species and improved varieties

of staple grains are introduced without inquiry into local options, preferences, and traditions. The

lack of attention to local food systems is evidenced by the conversion of wild plant habitats into

cultivated lands (Grivetti 2006) and the replacement of wild foods by non-drought adapted culti-

vars (Humphry et al. 1993).

What is needed to improve development initiatives is an understanding of the value that these

foods have for this region of Niger. As promoted by the food sovereignty movement (Pimbert

2009), a different kind of knowledge needs to be incorporated into food-based intervention

strategies: the local food traditions and alimentary preferences of local communities.

Through a case study of a rural village in Niger, this paper aims to describe the culturally-appro-

priate food component of food sovereignty. More specifically, we seek to provide an overview

of community knowledge and preferences by inquiring (1) which wild plants, fish, and culti-

vated foods are most commonly consumed by the Songhai people of the village of Talle, and

(2) how community members define their own culturally appropriate foods. This overview con-

cludes with a discussion of the implications that the participants’ responses have for develop-

ment programmes.

Methodology

Research site

Talle is a village of 3,500 people of Songhai-Zarma ethnic group, approximately 80km from the

capital city of Niamey. This location has made it easily accessible for development pro-

grammes, while its location along the regional Niger River and seasonal Sirba River has

secured indigenous fish and plant populations as local food sources. The community is

largely based on subsistence agriculture, with household income supplemented by the seasonal

migration of men into neighbouring coastal countries. The first author, having lived in this rural

village from 2006 through 2008 as a volunteer, participated in NGO-driven agricultural and

food-based interventions as well as the local practices of collecting and consuming wild

foods. The absence of local foods and knowledge in development programmes became very

evident during this time. Given the high value placed on wild-collected foods by the

community, the number of development programmes in the village, the level of trust and col-

laboration gained from previous experience in the village, and the interest in the community in

local knowledge documentation, Talle was chosen as the site to conduct this ethnoecological

research within a participatory action research framework.

Research framework

This study was carried out between September and December 2009. It employed various com-

ponents of Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology and involved the community, to

the fullest extent possible, in each step of the research process. PAR goes beyond applied

research to anchor research initiatives, processes, and outcomes in the local communities

Development in Practice, Volume 23, Number 2, April 2013 171

Cultivated, caught, and collected: defining culturally appropriate foods in Talle, Niger

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themselves. In contrast to other research methodologies where the researcher determines the

course of the research, in PAR the researcher and the community form a partnership built on

trust, cultural sensitivity, and equity, operating in a culturally and scientifically relevant meth-

odology (Israel et al. 2005). Differing from other participatory methodologies, PAR also has

an action component aimed at meeting a specified need of the community. In our project, the

action component was to preserve local knowledge: in 2008 a village elder requested the

documentation of community knowledge on local foods.

In September 2009, a meeting was held at the Talle village chief’s residence with the first

author and male and female village leaders to discuss the research and determine who would

be involved as partners. The participants of the meeting decided that Groupement Wa Fakay,

a 100-member women’s organisation, would be the partner organisation for this research. The

group is largely composed of senior female members of the village involved in gardening

projects and a sesame seed cooperative. Many of these women are respected by the

village as being the most knowledgeable community members on traditional foods. This

group was pivotal in selecting the initial key informants, choosing five of their own

members for the elder women’s focus group, and selecting Mr Sadou Idrissa as the research

counterpart.

Data collection

The first author and research counterpart interviewed 42 people through key informant inter-

views (six people), semi-structured interviews (six people), and focus group discussions (six

groups of five people). We also collected voucher specimens of 12 species of wild plants.

Groupement Wa Fakay chose five of its own members to participate as the elder women’s

focus group (and thus these five participants were not selected randomly). To ensure that

voices outside of Groupement Wa Fakay were included in the research, participants in the

semi-structured interviews and the remaining 25 of the 30 participants in the focus groups

were selected at random.

Key informant interviews Executive board members from Groupement Wa Fakay selected

six key informants from the community (five women, one man) to participate in the first

round of interviews. These interviews provided personal anecdotes and historical accounts,

which generated the themes discussed in the semi-structured interviews, including

(1) edible wild leaves, (2) cultivated foods, (3) wild tree fruits, (4) wild animals, (5) live-

stock, (6) fish, (7) food comparison, and (8) ecological knowledge. The key informants

also listed the most commonly consumed species through free-listing exercises for the

first six themes mentioned above. All participants were informed of the ethical guidelines

outlined by the UC Davis Institutional Review Board (IRB) and gave verbal agreement of

these conditions. The key informant interviews were administered by Mr Sadou Idrissa,

while the first author recorded responses digitally and manually. The interviews consisted

of 29 questions and took place in the private homes of participants. All interviews were

conducted in Zarma.

Plant collection We made four separate trips to mango gardens, cultivated fields, and private

residences to collect botanical vouchers of 12 species of wild leafy greens. Using a GPS unit,

we recorded the altitude and geographic coordinates for each specimen, as well as ecological


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and botanical information including plant associates, soil type, flower colour, and plant

height. We collected the plant specimens in plastic bags and later dried and pressed each

specimen in a wooden plant press, left to dry in the sun. After each trip, the plants were

identified and deposited at Abdou Moumouni University. Duplicate sets were sent to the her-

barium of the University of California Davis Center for Plant Diversity (DAV). Due to the

limited time frame of the research, only vouchers of wild food plants were collected. The

scientific names of fishes and cultivated plants were identified by using literature at Abdou

Moumouni University.

Semi-structured interviews After analysing key informant responses for recurring themes,

we designed the questions for the semi-structured interviews. We informed the six participants

(four women and two men) of the IRB protocol and secured verbal agreements. This round of

interviews consisted of 74 questions aimed at identifying the conceptual ecological frameworks

and food preferences of the community and included a free-listing exercise to identify the most

important species.

Focus groups From these responses, the questionnaires were narrowed down to 50 questions

and reformatted to fit focus group discussions. We then met with six separate focus groups, with

five people in each group (30 people in total). The groups were divided by sex and age (girls,

boys, young men, young women, elder men, and elder women) in order to encourage greater

gender participation and to be able to analyse the data based on demographics. Following the

same procedure as the key informant and semi-structured interviews, our research counterpart

began with a discussion of the most commonly consumed species and proceeded to pose the 50

questions to each group to elaborate upon the community food preferences initially mentioned

in the individual interviews.

Data analysis

Adhering to PAR methodology as an iterative process (Israel et al. 2005), we analysed the initial

data collected in the key informant interviews to better focus our questions for the semi-struc-

tured interviews. General trends were extracted from the data from the focus group based on

differences in age and sex. Given the qualitative nature of the research, data from the key infor-

mants and semi-structured interviews were analysed by inspection of the responses for recurring

themes regarding the valuation of local foods. The first author selected key quotes that depicted

the consensus of the respondents. The most important species were determined by the

number of times and the order in which they had been mentioned in the free-listing exercise.

Community data analysis, which would have included Groupement Wa Fakay, was not possible

at the end of the research due to time restrictions.

PAR ‘action’ component

In this PAR research project, the action component was the documentation of the knowledge of

the community, as requested by a village elder in 2008 and supported by the village chief and

Groupement Wa Fakay. The president of the organisation received a multimedia documentary,

including pictures and voice recordings at the end of the research.



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Results

Commonly consumed species

Wild leaves Research participants identified 16 commonly consumed wild plants with edible

leaves. Table 1 lists the local names, corresponding scientific names, and life cycles of each

plant. As noted on Table 1, these leaves come from trees, perennial herbs, and annual herbs,

and therefore are available at different times throughout the year. Eleven out of the 16 identified

plants, or 69 per cent of mentioned species with edible leaves, are annual herbs. This measure-

ment indicates that most of the mentioned plants are herbaceous annuals and therefore available

only during the rainy season. Among the 16 species of wild edible leaves, participants chose

Leptadenia lancifolia, Cleome gynandra, and Senna tora as the most commonly consumed

species. Kopto, which means “leaves” in Zarma, were valued for their flavour, perceived med-

icinal properties, nutritional value, storability, and economic importance.

Wild tree fruits Participants identified six species of trees whose edible fruits were commonly

harvested. Table 2 lists the local names, corresponding scientific names, and the seasons when

the fruits were available. As noted in Table 2, two out of the six species are available year-

round, three are available only in the cold and harvest seasons, and one, Vitex doniana, is avail-

able only in harvest season. Like the wild vegetables described above, foods produced from

these trees were also perceived as being flavourful, having medicinal properties, containing

vitamins, and having economic importance to the community. Out of the seven species of

Table 1: Wild plant species whose leaves are commonly consumed by people of Talle

Genus and Species Local Name

Trees

Adansonia digitata ko nya

Crataeva religiosa leyleyo

Perennial Herbs

Glossonema boveanum ganda ba hawru

Leptadenia lancifolia duuley

Tapinanthus globiferous kesi

Annual Herbs

Amaranthus graecizans ciroche

Amaranthus spinosus capata

Amaranthus viridis capata

Ceratotheca sesamoides ganda hoy

Corchorus aestuans kwara fokou

Corchorus tridens bangou fokou

Cleome gynandra hubey

Merremia tridentata kongey zara zara

Portulaca oleracea yuli ala

Senna tora uula

Tribulus terrestris gorumfu


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wild fruits and nuts, Ziziphus mauritiana, Diospyros mespiliformis, and Tamarindus indica

were listed most frequently.

Fish Research participants cited 45 different Zarma names of fish that are regularly caught and

consumed in the village. Six of the local names from the participant’s complete list were paired

with scientific names, as presented in Table 3. For the classification of fish, some local names,

such as gigiri beeri, corresponded with numerous different scientific species (Synodontis baten-

soda, S. courteti, S. euptera, and S. nigrita). Lates niloticus was identified as the preferred fish,

due to a perceived high vitamin content, high quantity of meat, and lack of bones. Forfoto

(Tilapia galilaea and Oreochromis niloticus) was chosen as the second-most preferred fish.

Cultivated foods Participants unanimously regarded millet (Pennisetum glaucum) as the most

important cultivated food. It was considered kaji ngari [staple food] and is consumed multiple

times in one day as koko [boiled powdered-millet porridge], donu [cold, fermented millet bev-

erage], and/or hawru [boiled millet paste]. It was also made into the breakfast foods masa

[millet pancakes] and feri masa [fried millet doughnuts]. Participants preferred millet based

on the following reasons: (1) it has high vitamin content, (2) it makes porridges, (3) it grows

well in the soil, (4) it is tasty, and (5) it is filling. Participants noted that a family’s harvest

of millet or sorghum is very rarely sold on the market. When asked which food they would

consume every day if given the option, all participants, regardless of age or sex, chose millet.

Table 2: Wild plant species whose fruits are commonly consumed by people of Talle

Genus and Species Local Name Season

Balanites aegyptiaca garbey bunga Year-Round

Diospyros mespiliformis tokay Harvest, Cold

Hyphaene thebaica kangao Year-Round

Tamarindus indica bosey Harvest, Cold

Vitex doniana boi Harvest

Ziziphus mauritiana darey Harvest, Cold

Table 3: Wild fish species commonly consumed by people of Talle

Genus and Species Local Name

Bagrus bajad deowa

Hydrocynus brevis zawey

Hydrocynus forskahlii zawey

Lates niloticus keraw

Mormyrus rume proboscirostris wasi

Oreochromis niloticus forfoto

Synodontis batensoda gigiri beeri

Synodontis courteti gigiri beeri

Synodontis euptera gigiri beeri

Synodontis nigrita gigiri beeri

Tilapia galilaea forfoto



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Livestock Participants listed cattle, sheep, goats, chicken, guinea hens, ducks, donkeys, and

horses as the main livestock animals raised in the village. When prompted why livestock are

important to the community, a participant in the girls’ focus group responded, muradey ga

feeri ingey bon se [household needs are met]. Livestock fulfil important nutritional, economic,

and cultural significance to the community. Participants nearly unanimously agreed that cattle

(Bos primigenius indicus) were the most valuable animals in the community, based on their

(1) ability to provide milk and meat, (2) potential to generate money through sales and off-

spring, (3) contribution to transportation (cow carts), and (4) assistance in field preparation.

Factors involved in defining what foods are culturally appropriate

1. Taste. Participants frequently responded to inquiries into the importance of wild edible greens

in the community with “I ga kanu [they are tasty]”. Participants preferred preparing and consuming

fresh leaves due to greater palatability and higher vitamin content. Most of the participants preferred

the taste of fish that was consumed fresh. In the words of one participant (male, 60):

“The fresh ones are better than dried ones. It is only when you are tired of eating them that

they are sold in the markets.”

2. Health/medicine. While interview participants were not asked to name specific nutritional

qualities for each plant, all plants were generally regarded as having high vitamin content and

being directly linked to health. One female elder, age 80, commented: “That which is medicine

has vitamins . . . All wild leaves are medicinal.” Reported medicinal properties of leaves vary

from promoting gaham bani [general vitality] to treating very specific ailments, including (1)

ga gunde zibi ka [constipation], (2) ga no kuri [blood enhancing], (3) ga boori gunde se [diges-

tive aid], (4) ga nooni wi [kill worms/anti-parasitic], (5) weyno [haemorrhoids], and (6) bine

lutu [asthma]. The consumption of fish was perceived as promoting good health, including pre-

ventative medicine and high vitamin content.

3. Economics. Participants reported that edible wild plants were collected, dried, and then

sold in the village and local and regional markets. Their sales were regarded as contributing

significantly towards meeting basic household needs, including the purchase of clothing,

shoes, and other foods (primarily millet) and livestock. Senna tora was identified as the plant

most commonly sold at rural markets. Throughout the interviews, participants often paused

to display a calabash of dried Senna tora leaves stored in the back of their home. One

female elder estimated that a rice sack of these leaves was currently sold for CFA3,000

(approximately US$6.50). In the words of a key informant (female, age 75):

“People place a high value on uula [Senna tora]. Every market in the bush sells it. The

dried leaves last forever.”

The cultivation of exotic garden vegetables such as lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, and eggplant

was seen as being primarily an income-generating activity. Only one key informant mentioned

vegetables during cultivated food free-listing; she listed them last. Participants only mentioned

vegetables when making comparisons to wild leaves. In the words of a male participant (age

45): “People that live in Niamey know garden vegetables; we know wild leaves.”

Wild tree fruits were collected and sold at local and regional markets in order to meet house-

hold needs, including the payment of taxes and the purchase of clothes, food, and Islamic Eid

al-Adha preparations. Participants reported that money earned from selling fish was used to

meet household needs, including purchasing clothes and other foods (namely millet).


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4. Snacks and staples. Participants noted that leafy greens are consumed either raw or

cooked. They were commonly identified as lami ngari [snack foods]. Wild fruits were primarily

described as snack foods, and were sucked on or chewed. They were said to require little or no

preparation and were not incorporated into meals. In the words of a participant in the young

women’s focus group, “I ga haray ka” [they take away hunger], or as an elder in the older

men’s focus group commented “I ga nga nda ni man du haini” [you eat them if you don’t

have millet]. Participants in both the semi-structured interviews and the focus groups were

asked to determine which foods constituted kaji ngari [“root”/staple foods] and which ones

constituted lami ngari [snack foods]. To help clarify the Songhai understanding of snack

foods, a male key informant (age 55), explained:

“If you are returning from travelling and are on your way home, you would stop at the

neighbouring village of Bogume and eat leaves. That is lami ngari.”

When prompted to determine which foods constituted staple foods, all respondents listed millet.

Similarly, all respondents chose livestock over wild animals as staple foods. Wild leaves were con-

sidered staple foods by half of the interviewees. Dishes combining wild and cultivated foods were

considered staple foods. Participants described adding wild leaves to the traditional dish dibi

gunda, mixed with peanut butter, oil, onions, salt, hot pepper and other spices, and consuming it

as a snack or with millet couscous and fish as a meal. Other types of leaves were reported to be

boiled, combined with spices, and made into sauce that accompanies millet, sorghum, and rice

dishes. Participants reported that dried leaves were pounded into flour and then added to sauces.

5. Storability. Dried fish were perceived as being important since they can be stored, have a long

shelf-life, and can be sold at the market throughout the year. Leaves were also dried and stored (as

described in the case of Senna tora) and then consumed throughout the year. Participants reported

that millet could be stored after harvest and consumed until the following growing season.

6. Seasonal availability. Participants described four main seasons in Niger: (1) haini

[harvest], which typically lasts from late September through the end of November; (2) yeni

[cold], which begins in December and concludes around February; (3) dungai [hot], which

starts in late February and lasts until the rains fall in late May or early June, and (4)

kaidia [rainy] which lasts from June through September. Figure 1 compares each wild and

cultivated food category with the four main seasons to show the differences in growth

Figure 1: Reported relative availability of wild foods (leaves, wild fruits, fish) and cultivated food (field

crops, gardens) in Talle across four seasons



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cycles related to seasonal change. This figure demonstrates the general trend in reported rela-

tive availability of these foods throughout the year. For example, although field crops are cul-

tivated during the rainy season, they are not ready for consumption until harvest. Based on the

correlation of the life cycle of annual plants such as Amaranthus spinosus with the rapid

change in precipitation and temperature, it is also at this time that edible leaves are most

readily available and therefore more heavily consumed than food from field crops. Perennials,

such as Leptadenia hastata, and trees with edible leaves have foliage year round, which rep-

resents the availability (albeit decreased) of edible leaves in the cold and hot seasons. As

described in Table 2, wild fruit trees produce at different times of the year. Hyphaene the-

baica is available year round, while Vitex doniana is found during harvest season. Ziziphus

mauritiana, Tamarindus indica, and Diospyros mespiliformis are found during harvest and

cold seasons. Although fish are available year round, there is reasonable seasonal fluctuation

in the quantities that are caught at different times of year. A 38-year-old female participant

remarked, “There are not a lot of fish unless the water is red”. “Red water” refers to the

rush of water and sediment that fill the seasonal Sirba River at the commencement of the

rainy season each year; this is also the height of fishing season, as noted in Figure 1. Respon-

dents reported consuming all fish that were caught, regardless of size.

Cultivated foods were described to be generally grown during the rainy season, with cold-

season gardening taking place from December through February. Participants reported that

cultivated foods begin to become scarce in mid-hot season, with grain stores becoming

depleted during rainy season. When asked what strategies are used to overcome staple

food shortages, participants responded with the following tactics: (1) sell livestock to buy

food, (2) work for other people, (3) receive assistance from NGOs, and (4) migrate seasonally

to coastal cities for work. Participants did not report an increased use of wild foods to over-

come staple food shortages. In comparing wild greens with cultivated greens, one key infor-

mant explained,

“Hubey (Cleome gynandra) and windi-bundu (Moringa oleifera) are better than lettuce.

Wild foods have more worth than that which is planted . . . We eat wild foods in every

season. All of the labour that goes into cultivated foods makes people suffer.”

7. Celebrations. As described above, ruminant livestock live in the village from harvest until

the rains begin to fall in June. Donkeys, horses, chickens, ducks, and guinea hens were reported

to be present in the village year-round. Unlike wild and cultivated foods, whose consumption is

based on seasonal availability, participants reported that the consumption of livestock is based

on celebrations (Islamic holidays, weddings, naming ceremonies, etc.), with fowl reserved as a

special dinner for guests. For this reason, livestock was not included in Figure 1. One female

elder (age 75) commented,

“People place the highest importance on fish over other meats. You don’t kill a sheep or a

goat for just anything – only for Eid al-Adha and naming ceremonies. People can get fish

morning until night. Also, fish are not very expensive.”

8. Abundance/availability. Participants noted a decrease in the abundance of wild foods

over their lifetimes. Both male and female members of older generations expressed a

decline in the availability of wild leaves. A female participant (age 30), commented that

one needs to travel a whole afternoon to find some wild plants, such as Adansonia digitata

and Tapinanthus globiferous, which once were common within and around the village of

Talle. Based on participant responses and the number of species that were listed, wild trees


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were reported to be disappearing at a more rapid rate than annual herbaceous plants. While

Ziziphus mauritiana was regarded as being readily available, Tamarindus indica, Diospyros

mespiliformis, and Vitex doniana were all identified as becoming increasingly unavailable.

In the words of a male participant (age 60), “They [wild fruits] are disappearing; they are

killing their [tree] mothers”.

All participants acknowledged a change in availability and diversity of wild foods in their

lifetime. A key informant (female, age 80) commented,

“People place more importance on cultivated foods than wild foods because there are not

enough wild foods for everyone. In the past, people gathered enough food.”

Participants, regardless of age or gender, were able to identify several types of fish that are

either very difficult to find or no longer available in the river. A female participant (age 62)

noted, “Fish are disappearing; back then, women would catch them (unintentionally) when

they washed their dishes”. Another female elder, age 80, commented, “You can’t catch as

many fish as people caught back then”. There was a significant age divide between participants

who responded that fish will never completely disappear due to their high quantity of eggs, and

those participants who replied that fish would eventually disappear due to overfishing. Older

generations were more likely to comment on overfishing.

9. Cultural identity. Participants commonly stated that as Songhai people, fish is their most

important food. They described the Songhai as being known by the other ethnic groups in

Niger as “the fish-eaters”. In comparing fish with other protein sources, all participants

except some members in the boys and girls focus groups chose fish over red meats. All other

participants, regardless of age or gender, were very proud of their heritage as fish-eaters. A

female key informant (age 80) remarked, “If Songhai people had a choice between fish and

red meat, they would choose the fish”. One female elder, age 80, noted that “fish surpasses

all other foods”.

Discussion

Talle’s culturally appropriate foods

Tables 1–3 list the scientific and local names of the most frequently consumed 16 wild leaf

species, six wild tree fruit species, and 11 fish species identified by participants. These foods

were chosen by the community as their priority species. Although our case study has highlighted

the importance of identifying preferred species locally, many of these same species are valued

regionally across Africa. Ten of the plant species identified in Talle (Adansonia digitata, Amar-

anthus ssp., Balanties aegyptiaca, Ceratotheca sesamoides, Cleome gynandra, Leptadenia

hastata, Portulaca oleracea, Senna tora, Tamarindus indica, Vitex doniana) are recognised as

making important contributions to the economic, nutritional, medicinal, and cultural well-being

of other Africans (Maundu, Achigan-Dako, and Morimoto 2009). While they are considered

important continent-wide, there is considerable variation in which plant parts are consumed

and how they are prepared. Some herbaceous plants, such as Amaranthus species, for example,

are consumed as leafy greens nearly universally in Africa while other plants, such as the tree

species Vitex doniana, are consumed for their leaves in one region and for their fruits in other

regions (Maundu, Achigan-Dako, and Morimoto 2009). Understanding a local food system

requires more than determining preferred species; it should include the knowledge of how each

species is utilised.



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The nine factors constituting a culturally appropriate food

Participants defined culturally appropriate foods according to the following factors: (1) taste, (2)

health/medicine, (3) economics, (4) snacks/staples, (5) storability, (6) seasonal availability, (7)

celebrations, (8) abundance, and (9) cultural identity. The importance of factors such as taste,

health, economics, and storability are well documented in literature on wild foods (Pieroni and

Price 2006; Yang and Keding 2009). Yet, as evidenced by the responses from participants, cul-

tivated, caught, and collected foods play different roles throughout the year. They do not fit into

static categories; a food that is a snack at one period of the year may be incorporated into a meal

at a later time. Likewise, wild foods that are cherished for cultural identity (fish) may be sold for

cultivated ones (millet) based on the availability of the staple food. Dried leaves and fish can

also be sold to purchase a ram for religious celebrations. Contrary to literature depicting con-

sumption of wild greens as a coping strategy (Humphry et al. 1993), participants did not

mention an increase in wild food consumption as a survival mechanism when their staple

stocks are depleted at the beginning of the growing season. The change in available foods por-

trayed in Figure 1, therefore, is less of a representation of the presence of replacement foods

than a depiction of the relative availability of other foods. There is an interchange of these

foods at different points throughout the agricultural and cultural seasons.

Participants conceptualised foods differently based on their sex and age. Older generations

once viewed fish as a staple to the local diet, but now consider fish a snack food. Younger

respondents unanimously consider fish a snack food. These shifting conceptualisations may

reflect a change in the availability of fish resources or a shift in food preferences. Similar pat-

terns were seen regarding leaves and livestock. Changing food preferences and food availability

will have significant future implications for the community and for the development pro-

grammes in Niger.

Policy recommendations

Know your foods

Creating an inventory of utilised species (Maundu, Achigan-Dako, and Morimoto 2009) will

better situate development initiatives to meet the needs of African populations. As wild

foods could offer many contributions to achieving the Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs) – most notably, eradicating extreme hunger and poverty, reducing child mortality,

improving maternal health, combating disease, and ensuring environmental sustainability

(Shackleton, Pasquini, and Drescher 2009) – development policymakers should be aware of

the value of commonly consumed local foods. Data on local food consumption is limited,

especially as regards traditional vegetables (Yang and Keding 2009). Our results should not

be interpreted as a depiction of wild foods as the solution to malnutrition; an increase in pro-

ductivity is ultimately necessary to meet long-term food needs (Fleuret and Fleuret 1980).

However, as changes in agricultural production systems will affect consumption patterns

(Fleuret and Fleuret 1980), development policies should strive to know which foods have

been complementing staple grains in order to ensure that future needs will be met.

Going one step beyond the creation of local food inventories, researchers and development

workers should be aware of the local alimentary traditions of the regions where they work.

There can be significant variation within one region in the same country (Maundu, Achigan-

Dako, and Morimoto 2009). As discussed above, the Songhai people eat fish as a part of their

cultural heritage, yet the neighbouring Fulani ethnic group has cultural taboos against the con-

sumption of fish. Policymakers should be aware of these different traditions; understanding both


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traditional and scientific knowledge is necessary in order for change to be sustained over gen-

erations (Cleveland and Soleri 2007).

Define culturally appropriate food

It is then necessary to investigate the factors contributing to what makes the community-ident-

ified foods culturally appropriate. Current development initiatives have largely been based on

science, preference, and expertise developed outside of the local biocultural context. Veg-

etable gardening activities, for example, are based on promoting species whose vitamin

content, taste, and cultivation practices are well-researched by Western science and therefore

accessible by development organisations. In Talle, the women’s organisation and school chil-

dren participated in vegetable gardening, but their values were deeply ingrained in their own

available local resources, taste preferences, and indigenous understandings of health pro-

motion. Thus, they did not incorporate the vegetables into their daily meals. Development

can be strengthened through the conservation of local options, not as a way of challenging

scientific integrity, but with the goal of locating traditional knowledge and science side-by-

side (Sillitoe 2007).

Further research and activities

As echoed throughout the last 20 years of ethnobotanical research, the nutritional properties of

many wild plants are poorly researched (Glew et al. 1997; Frison et al. 2006) and available lit-

erature has not been well-communicated between academic disciplines (Grivetti and Ogle

2000). Improving the nutritional status of rural communities in Africa and throughout the devel-

oping world requires further inquiry into local varieties and improved collaboration between

researchers and development programmes. After the local food preferences, species, and nutri-

tional properties of these foods are known, development initiatives can then shift toward

increasing their production, marketing, and consumption (Shackleton, Pasquini, and Drescher

2009); supporting agricultural biodiversity will result in dietary diversity (Frison et al. 2006).

It may be more nutritionally and economically advantageous to advocate the cultivation and

consumption of local foods before introducing foreign foods and improved varieties of

grains (Fleuret and Fleuret 1980). If these foods are not seen as an integral component of the

larger food system, the quality of the rural Nigerien diet will decline with agricultural develop-

ment (Doughty 1979).

Conclusion

Through participatory methods, which put the community at the forefront of the knowledge-

generating process, the people of Talle identified their most commonly consumed foods and

shared insight into how natural and cultivated surroundings met their everyday needs.

Although participants felt that wild plant and fish resources were slowly decreasing over

time, the knowledge and cultural resilience surrounding this food culture was still very much

alive. The results of our study show that wild foods were not survival foods, a last resort in

times of grain deficiencies, but were consumed year-round as snacks and combined with culti-

vated grains as staple meals. The presence of dried leaves and fish in rural markets during cold

and dry seasons demonstrated the deliberate preservation of these foods for times then they were

not available fresh. Especially in the case of foreign vegetable cultivation, wild greens are pre-

ferred over cultivated foods. Participants of all ages and both sexes cherished their cultivated

foods very highly. Millet unquestionably was the foundation of the rural diet of Niger, yet it



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did not satisfy the community’s alimentary needs unaccompanied. It was the combination of

wild foods, their complementarity, with cultivated foods that constitutes the local food

system in Talle.

The absence of wild foods in development programmes demonstrates the significant divide

between indigenous food security practices and the response of development organisations.

Development programmes can be improved by (1) identifying the most important cultivated,

caught, and collected foods among the populations where they work, (2) acknowledging

what makes these foods culturally appropriate, and (3) furthering research into their nutritional

properties, propagation, and marketing. Side-lining these foods in agricultural and nutritional

agendas not only discounts entire cultures, it also accelerates the rate at which they will

disappear and further threatens the nutritional, economic, and medicinal services that these

plants and animals could provide for future generations.

Acknowledgements

A participatory research project of this nature would not have been possible without the generosity, exper-

tise, and sense of humour of the men, women, and children of Talle. We are especially grateful to the

former village chief of Talle, Seyni Siddo, and the women’s group Groupement Wa Fakay. At the Univer-

sity of California Davis, we would like to thank Dr Frank Hirtz and Dr Bruce Winterhalder, together with

Jean Shepard and Dr Ellen Dean from the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity. In Niamey, we extend our

gratitude to the professors at Universite Abdou Moumouni, Dr Saadou Mahamane, Dr Ali Mahamane, and

Arzika Tanimoune. Financially, this research was made possible through research grants from the

GL-Livestock CRSP, Department of Plant Sciences, and Jastro Shields. This article was greatly improved

by two anonymous reviewers.

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The authors

Alexandra M. Towns (corresponding author) is an MS graduate in International Agricultural Develop-

ment from the University of California Davis, where this research was completed, and is currently a

PhD student at Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis (section NHN), Leiden University, the Neth-

erlands. ,[email protected].

Daniel Potter is a Professor of Plant Sciences and Director of the Center for Plant Diversity at the Uni-

versity of California Davis.

Sadou Idrissa is a community member of Talle, Niger.



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http://pubs.iied.org/14585IIED.html?k=Towards%20Food%20Sovereignty

http://pubs.iied.org/14585IIED.html?k=Towards%20Food%20Sovereignty

Documents

Cultivated, caught, and collected: defining culturally appropriate foods in Tallé, Niger