Traditional food plants: a resource book for promoting the exploitation and consumption of food plants in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid lands of Eastern Africa

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Title:	Traditional food plants: a resource book for promoting the exploitation and consumption of food plants in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid lands of Eastern Africa
Editor:	Pipe-Wolferstan, Karen
Year:	1988
Issue:	42
Pages:	593
Language:	English
Series:	FAO food and nutrition paper (ISSN 0254-4725)
City of publisher:	Rome
Publisher:	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
ISBN:	9251025576
Geographic term:	East Africa
Subject:	edible plants
Abstract:	A selection of 110 plant species used as food in Africa. It was made by an FAO working group on the basis of six criteria: potential nutritional contribution to the diet; potential contribution to food supply during the 'hungry season'; frequency of use; potential for further development through extension and research; ease and suitability of small-scale cultivation; income-generating potential. The first part describes the basic scientific principles of nutrition in relation to the major nutritional problems in eastern Africa. It also reviews the place of traditional crops in the farming system, their nutritional value and place in the diet, and improved conditions of storage and preservation. The second part consists of the anthology of the selected plants. It includes scientific names and synonyms, vernacular names, general description and distribution, food value and food use, storage, ecology, cultivation and references.