Creating Opportunities for Domesticating and Commercializing Miombo Indigenous Fruit Trees in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 137

8

Creating Opportunities
for Domesticating and
Commercializing Miombo
Indigenous Fruit Trees in
Southern Africa

F.K. A KINNIFESI , 1 O.C. A JAYI , 1 G. S ILESHI , 1 P. M ATAKALA , 2
F.R. K WESIGA , 3 C. H AM , 4 I. K ADZERE , 5 J. M HANGO , 6
S.A. M NG ' OMBA , 7 T. C HILANGA 8 AND A. M KONDA 9

1 World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF, Lilongwe, Malawi ;
2 World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF, Maputo, Mozambique ;
3 Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa, Accra, Ghana ; 4 Department of
Forest and Wood Science, University of Stellenbosch, Matieland,
South Africa ; 5 Department of Agricultural Research and Extension,
Ministry of Agriculture, Harare, Zimbabwe ; 6 Mzuzu University, Mzuzu,
Malawi ; 7 Department of Plant Production and Soil Science, Faculty of
Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria,
South Africa ; 8 Bvumbwe Agricultural Research Station, Limbe, Malawi ;
9 Zambia-ICRAF Agroforestry Project, Chipata, Zambia

8.1 Introduction

An estimated 500 million to 1 billion smallholder farmers grow trees on farms
or manage remnant forests for subsistence and income (Scherr, 2004). The
development of rural economic activities is pivotal to national well-being for
rural communities in developing countries. The prospects for smallholder
agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to remain bleak unless major efforts
are made soon to address the limiting conditions that affect farmers. Rural
community dwellers have access to a wealth of natural resources, including
arable lands and forests, yet they face the highest levels of poverty, ill health
and malnutrition and score low on other development indicators (de Ferranti et
al ., 2005).
Through the ages, millions of people dwelling in rural areas in tropical
countries have depended on forests for income, food and other livelihoods and