Introduction:
Ensuring sustainable community livelihood systems is not something that external actors including governments, Development institutions or NGOs can adequately do to the poor.
The poor have to understand the value of indigenization of local production systems before they can forge partnerships and help to promote the conditions in which they can use their own skills and talents to liberate themselves out of the yoke of poverty and food insecurity.
Some of the approaches include the preservation of their indigenous methods of agriculture that include food systems with dietary inclusion of wide range of biodiversity as food sources and indigenous technologies for preserving cereal and other protein foods from one harvesting season to the next.
The critical socio-economic development problems of Africa are inextricably linked to people, resources and the environment.
Thus environmental conservation as part of indigenization has ensured human livelihoods for ages even in the absence of modern theories of agriculture.
Indigenous Methods of food production
In the fishing industry for example, most fishers specialized in meteorological knowledge based on the wind patterns to monitor their fishing activities.
Crop farmers combined biological observations, wind patterns and astrological observations to monitor changes in the weather patterns in order to sound the early warning for agricultural ground preparation.
Traditional laws and order supported with rituals facilitate ease of reinforcing conservation measures.
A number of rare plants’ species are used as medicinal plants and are connected with mystical powers.
Preserving them was and is still based on strong mythology of bad things happening to anyone who dared cut them down unceremoniously.
The overall result is preservation of trees that attract rain for enhancing food production and reducing food insecurity.