Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
economically attractive. However, the study did observe that a combination of
technological change, e.g. fruit traits, and decreasing resources abundance,
such as the impact of deforestation, a change in policy that would discourage
collection from the commons, and increased competition due to value addition,
would provide scope for farmer-led tree cultivation and conservation.
Fiedler (2005) showed that the availability of Uapaca kirkiana is declining
in Malawi, as more than half of the total forest resources disappeared between
1972 and 1992 (FAO, 2001). Only a few farmers have preserved trees in their
fields and deforestation has reduced the number of trees available on
communal lands. As a result, collection costs have risen and the labour
productivity of collecting fruits from communal areas has fallen. For households
still collecting and selling U. kirkiana fruits, the income share was 4.1% and
farmers expressed their willingness to collect more if it were possible. The study
indicates motivation to keep U. kirkiana as a source of food and income
among the rural population indicating that the adoption of improved
indigenous fruit trees could be successful. The real option approach used in the
economics study suggests that planting U. kirkiana trees even without yield
improvement is profitable if the maturity period of trees were to decrease from
the current level of 11-16 years to 4 years (Fiedler, 2005). This indicates that a
domestication programme using clonal selection to reduce the period of
maturity of indigenous fruits will be a highly economic venture. With further
yield increases and better fruit quality, improved U. kirkiana trees become more
profitable and farmer adoption is expected to be successful and sustainable.
Households have choices and they vary in how they manage their
portfolios of indigenous fruit trees. Domestication improves the contribution of
fruit trees to household food security, nutrition and income and conserves the
biodiversity of stock that is necessary for meeting both present and future
demands (Akinnifesi et al. , 2004a). A study of in situ conservation was carried
out by Kruise (2006) which involved 133 households in Dedza, central Malawi,
to understand the extent of conservation of semi-wild indigenous trees and
factors influencing their conservation. Results showed that, of the average of
four trees conserved and/or managed per household, 36% were indigenous
fruit trees. Forty-four per cent of trees were located in the homestead and 48%
in the crop area.
8.2.3 Commoditization of fruits
Wild tree products form part of the diversified rural economy in Africa.
Agriculture operates at the interface of two complex, hierarchically distinct
systems: the socio-economic system and the ecosystem. For tree domestication,
there is a trade-off between new commitment to increase the level of
intensification of crop production to increase returns for farmers in order to
address poverty challenges, coupled with associated stresses on the ecological
systems, such as loss of biodiversity and soil erosion. Although wild harvesting
has been shown to be profitable in the short term (Mithöfer, 2005) and more
practical for rural populations (Akinnifesi et al ., 2006a), it tends to have
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