POSTGRADUATE TRAINING FOR DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON HORTICULTURAL TRAINING

ISHS Acta Horticulturae 204: Postgraduate Training for development, XXII IHC

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING FOR DEVELOPMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON HORTICULTURAL TRAINING

Authors:

Bede N. Okigbo, S.A. Adeyemi

Abstract:
In a report on the Development of Education and Training in the Field of Agriculture and Related Disciplines, Rowat (1965) notes that 'a major difficulty in approaching the task is the lack of appreciation, in almost every country, of any distinction between horticulture and agriculture'. The situation remains almost the same today, although in most countries such as Nigeria there are now more graduates in horticulture and there is more specifically horticultural research conducted than in the past. In spite of this, horticultural crops/projects are the first to suffer whenever there is a cut in the budget. Based on Rowat's definition, horticulture refers to the production of 'those crops which are usually consumed by man directly or with minimum processing or are grown for man's aesthetic enjoyment'. Horticultural crop production involves more of the understanding of the physiology of individual plant. On the other hand, agricultural crops usually involve more extensive processing before they are consumed or used for animal feed and 'is more concerned with the ecology of the crop, as a whole'. Here, horticulture is defined as the science, business, industry and art of producing, improving, harvesting, handling and storage of crops, various parts of which are eaten raw or boiled with minimum processing. Horticultural production systems vary in intensity of operations and involves in the production of crops that are eaten by man or grown for ornamental purposes as flowers. Horticultural crops consist of fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices and condiments that are eaten by man or plants grown for landscaping and decorative purposes.

Unlike horticultural production systems in temperate and subtropical developed countries which are intensive, specialised and often more mechanised, horticultural crop production in tropical Africa involve different kinds of systems including:

kitchen gardens, or home gardens often managed by women.
small scale, intensive production of fruits and vegetables and sometimes ornamental crops in market gardens near cities mainly for sale to urban centres
growing of vegetables and sometimes fruits for home consumption (and increasingly for sale), in mixtures among fields crops such as maize, cassava, yams, rice and so on, in shifting cultivation or fallow systems.
growing of vegetables in 'truck' gardens mainly for export.

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