AGRODIVERSITE, GESTION PAYSANNE ET IMPORTANCE DE DIOSCOREA PRAEHENSILIS BENTH. DANS LA ZONE SUBHUMIDE DU TOGO.

Dioscorea praehensilis Benth. make up an important yam that contributes to food security and poverty alleviation in some countries of west and central Africa. In spite of its huge economic potential and as a source of food security, D. praehensilis locally called bayere still remains an underutilized in Togo. This study was carried out to assess the diversity within the cultivated D. praehensilis, analyze its distribution, document it's socio-cultural, economic and food values, farmer's practices of diversity management. Ethnobotanical semi-structured individual and focus group interviews were carried out with producers of D. praehensilis and supplemented by field observations. Producers of D. praehensilis were surveyed in 34 villages. Data were analysed through descriptive statistics to generate summaries figures and tables at different levels. Altogether, informants described four cultivated types of D. praehensilis; white bayere, yellow bayere, black bayere and red bayere. These cultivated yams were obtained after transplantation and culture of wild plants in home gardens and agroforests or their preservation in agroforests. White bayere is present in all surveyed producers while the other four are reported in less than 50% of respondents. Bayere are cultivated in home gardens (45%) and agroforests (55%). Several farmers' practices of bayere management are developed. The most common practices to maintain bayere diversity are the heritage of seeds (70%), the gift (28%) and purchase (1.2%). The strategy adopted by farmers to preserve the purity of the bayere is its tubers cuttings. Peasant's preference criteria of types are mainly agronomic and dietary. Factors such as good culinary characteristics (100%), high yield (100%), and seed generation capacity (65%) are important criteria for selection of type and their continual cultivation. Low market quality (34%), difficult harvest (25%), lack of seed (23%), maladjustment in dry areas (25%), reduction of the forest (24%), loss of the cultural values (20%), schooling of young people (21%) were major determinant of bayere neglect and contribute bayere to the loss of diversity. This neglected species is part of a rich economic, biological, social and cultural local diversity, and has the potential to play a much more important role than they do today in sustaining livelihoods and human wellbeing and in enhancing ecosystem health and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]