The personal food environment and its influences on the consumption of neglected and underutilised plant species in the region of Atacora (northern Benin)

Although the African continent is considered as the most diverse region in the world in terms of wild and cultivated foods, especially Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s most food in-secure region. Regarding the requirements for healthy and nutritious diets, the potentials of many edible plant species remain unexploited. To better understand the influences of the personal food environment on consumption of neglected and underutilised species in the department of Atacora in northern Benin, this study investigated the changes in consumption of 16 plant parts (leaves, fruit pulps and seeds) of 11 species and their underlying drivers, as well as current barriers and enhancing factors for consumption. For this purpose, rural people and employees working in the fields of agriculture, health and nutrition were interviewed in 42 semi-structured interviews with local and professional experts and 12 focus group discussions in three communes of the Atacora department.In a first step, semi-structured interviews with local and professional experts were carried out. Focus group discussions took place in a second step with parallel conduction of further interviews with professional experts. Due to language barriers between the author and most research participants, interviews with local experts and focus group participants were conducted with the help of two enumerators in local languages. Professional experts were interviewed by the author in French.

尽管非洲大陆被认为是全球野生与栽培粮食作物多样性最丰富的区域，但撒哈拉以南非洲仍是全球粮食最不安全的地区。就健康营养膳食的需求而言，诸多可食用植物物种的开发潜力仍未得到充分挖掘。为深入探究贝宁北部阿塔科拉省（Atacora）居民个人食品环境对被忽视与未充分利用物种（Neglected and Underutilised Species）消费行为的影响，本研究针对11个物种的16类植物组织（叶片、果肉及种子）的消费变化及其潜在驱动因素，以及当前制约与促进消费的因素展开了调查。
为此，研究团队在阿塔科拉省下辖的3个公社中开展调研，共完成42场半结构化访谈（受访对象涵盖农村居民、农业、健康与营养领域从业者及本地与专业专家），并组织12场焦点小组讨论。
调研分为两个阶段实施：第一阶段先行开展针对本地与专业专家的半结构化访谈；第二阶段则同步开展焦点小组讨论及针对专业专家的补充访谈。
鉴于研究人员与多数受访对象存在语言壁垒，针对本地专家及焦点小组参与者的访谈由2名调查员使用当地方言完成；而针对专业专家的访谈则由研究人员以法语直接开展。