The domestication of indigenous agroforestry trees: ICRAF's strategy in the humid tropics of west and central Africa

Abstract

The tropical rain forests of West and Central Africa are endowed with abundant high value indigenous fruit and medicinal tree species. Many rural households of the region heavily depend on these resources for their fruit, medicinal, food, and construction needs. Moreover, some of these products, particularly medicinal plants, are traded internationally, significantly contributing to the economy of the countries of the region. Currently, the majority of these products are exploited exclusively from the wild. The accelerated rate of destruction of the forest of the Central Africa region is currently estimated at 60% per year (FAO, 1997). The clearance of forest for agriculture, increased urbanisation and other economic developments makes the need to domesticate many high value forest resources an imperative. It is hoped that this will enable small-scale farmers to cultivate these species in an environmentally-sustainable and economically-profitable system. In order to enhance the potential adoption of cultivation, the importance of identifying greater market opportunities through transformation to value added goods and developing a sound policy environment is also advocated. This paper presents ICRAF's tree domestication approach and preliminary results obtained so far in West and Central Africa