i Parkia biglobosa - School of Forest Resources & Environmental ...

found that soybeans were an acceptable substitute and during part of the year, an
appropriate replacement for traditional zuini and dawadawa.
Recommendations
Natural resource degradation in the semi-arid regions of Africa is of alarming
concern for many researchers. Numerous studies have investigated the declining
productivity of agricultural crops, escalating erosion, and depletion of soil fertility. In the
1960s, modernization of farming methods and revolutionary ways of increasing
productivity through expensive external inputs such as fertilizers, mechanization with
tractors, improved seed, or introduction of cash crops were introduced to deal with these
issues. The revolutionary methods of modernization have not succeeded (Keatinge et al
2001). Intensive agricultural practices in the savanna regions of West Africa failed
because little attention was given to local economies and traditional conservation
methods. Many studies (Kranjac-Berisavljevic et al. 1999, Bakang and Garforth 1998,
Viehe 2000, Lykke 2000) strongly recommend and advocate that active participation and
the incorporation of existing socioeconomic realities from the stakeholders is necessary
for sustainable conservation practices to be successful in northern Ghana and savanna
regions of West Africa. This study investigated P. biglobosa as a resource against the
socioeconomic background of Kandiga
P. biglobosa is named specifically in several studies as an important and
beneficial native tree species and should be targeted for conservation and tree planting
plans for the savanna woodlands and Sahel region of Africa (Sabitti and Cobbina 1992,
88