CALABASHES & BEES MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE
Ecosystems and our natural environment are the stage upon which our entire existence is founded. Sounds important! What is an ecosystem you may ask? It is the intricate life-filled interaction of plant, animal and micro-organism communities with the nonliving environment as a well-designed unit. It assumes that people are a fundamental part of ecosystems. In many cultures today, particularly those where humans are seen as being apart from nature, and chiefly as consumers, there is a strong conviction that the natural world must be preserved, in isolation, so that people will not destroy what is left of the natural surroundings. Yet humans are not inherently destructive. We can be an integrated, positive part of natural systems, helping to restore rather than undermine ecological functioning.
The benefits that people gain from ecosystems are known as ecosystem services. These can be separated into regulating services (e.g. regulating water quality, climate, disease, floods), provisioning services (e.g. food, water), supporting services (e.g. photosynthesis, nutrient cycling) and cultural services (e.g. places of recreational and aesthetic value).
Ecosystems supply the water vital for so many needs, such as irrigation and domestic use. They ensure the pollination that is crucial to agricultural production. They provide services that are critical to health through the natural filtration of waste water, and through plant based medicines. The biodiversity of ecosystems is key to the provision of pest control services and disease and mitigation. They provide a buffer from disasters such as floods and cyclones.. Just from these few examples we can see that without functioning natural ecosystems our world as we know it would collapse.
Kitui County is located in the Arid and semi arid lands (ASAL) region of Kenya. It is therefore a very delicate ecosystem very vulnerable to rainfall availability. Low agricultural productivity and unpredictable rains have resulted in continuing food shortages in the county making Kitui heavily reliant upon food supplies from other districts to meet its food needs for most of the year. Other sources of food and income within the County need to be explored. In Kenya, habitat loss and fragmentation, pollution, and the introduction of exotic invasive species are some of the issues that are destroying and degrading our ecosystems and depleting the services upon which our health and prosperity are based. As responsible citizens we each need to take steps to ensure that ecosystem services will continue to support our well-being and prosperity.
One of the ways to do this is through the introduction of wild crop relatives in restoring degraded agricultural landscapes. This also serves to enhance genetic diversity because landscape diversity or complexity, and proximity of agricultural lands to semi-natural habitats tends to produce greater abundance and species richness because it promotes services such as pollination and pest control.
As we progress on our development trajectory we have an advantage as a generation that is privileged to have access to the technology and innovation of the twenty first century as well as local indigenous knowledge systems that have been entrusted to us from generations past. One such system is beekeeping which in Kitui is almost as old as human settlement in this part of Kenya. A 2010 study at the University of Nairobi by David Mugendi, found that despite the potential for honey as a source of food and economic security in the region these qualities still remain unexplored. Because rainfall cannot be relied upon in supporting agriculture in the county, bee farming because of the existence of arid and semi-arid trees such as acacia is feasible.
Notwithstanding their importance in the natural ecosystem and for agriculture, their production of value-added by-products for human consumption or commercial and therapeutic uses, honey bee populations have suffered a dramatic decline in recent years. Mugendi found that the intensive use of pesticides and fungicides in agriculture and the chronic exposure to pesticides to combat parasites, the destruction and fragmentation of natural and semi-natural habitats, and change in landscapes and crop biodiversity have dramatically affected honeybees and other pollinators. Increased urbanization and suburban sprawl, and increased intensification of agriculture worldwide have decreased available apiary sites. As a result, the total number of colonies has been decreasing with negative implications for ecosystem functioning.
In a perfect world of ecosystems in balance, humans would develop a wide-ranging diversity of cultures, each one adapted to the ecology in which it is located. One such example is the relationship between the Wakamba and their “Kitete”. For almost 10,000 years, they have cultivated a culture revolving around the bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria), a fruit in the same family as squash and pumpkins. They have over 61 recognized uses for the kitete, including as calabash containers, wash basins, masks, musical instruments, and food. By choosing specific bottle gourd qualities, they have naturally bred over 50 varieties of the fruit. The arrival of plastic containers that substitute nearly every use kitete has traditionally satisfied has resulted in the loss of kitete-centric language and ritual eroding the overall culture and threatening the survival of deeply rooted conservation practices.
In 2001, concerned Wakamba women joined with several organizations, to address kitete cultural conservation. Indigenous knowledge about gourds, and of how to both promote and exploit their diversity, has traditionally been passed orally from one Wakamba generation to another, but this knowledge system was rapidly disappearing due to the ready availability of cheap plastic containers leading to a loss of interest in gourds among younger people in Kitui. They embarked on an endeavor to record existing varieties, cultivate and exchange seeds, record stories and instructions for how to use kitete, and in the process also established a Kitete museum and gene bank housing the most important collection of gourd germplasm in Africa, and probably the world.– the Kitete Demonstration Hut. The purpose of the museum is not only to record a unique element of ethnic history; but to protect a vital resource for the future. By focusing on reinforcing the cultural norms around the kitete, rather than hands-off conservation, the project has been a self-sustaining success among the Wakamba, boosting tourism and promoting our African heritage. Within the community members are now growing edible gourds, enhancing diet and nutrition. And beyond these benefits the process of collecting, exchanging and promoting indigenous knowledge has also helped to empower individuals and build stronger links within the community. These are just small ways in which humans can positively interact with their ecosystems for the benefit of all.