Creating Opportunities for Domesticating and Commercializing Miombo Indigenous Fruit Trees in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 158

Sclerocarya birrea after the successful liqueur made from marula (Amarula
Cream) had become an incentive for rural enterprises. Half of the farmers
sampled in four villages were managing self-seeded recruits of S. birrea , while
30% planted from seeds, truncheons or transplants of wildings. However, there
has been no planting of trees with desired traits in any of the projects
(Shackleton, 2004). About 79% of the households had at least one tree of S.
birrea . This was a spin-off effect of massive project support to the communities
in the Bushbuckridge region. Tree domestication efforts that build on existing
farmers' knowledge and practices in the country are likely to succeed.
Several thousands of farmers have been trained in the five countries in
nursery establishment, propagation and tree management. Monitoring and
evaluation results confirm that an estimated total of 12,702 farmers were
trained in nursery establishment and management, propagation techniques
between 2001 and 2005. In 2005 alone, 758 individual and group nurseries
were established and managed by farmers during the period (315 group and
443 individual nurseries): 458 in Malawi, 165 in Tanzania, 36 in Zambia and
99 in Mozambique (ICRAF, 2005). Over 6000 farmers have been testing
indigenous fruits and other high-value trees in the five countries.
On-farm management showed lower survival for Uapaca kirkiana and
Strychnos cocculoides in Malawi and Zambia (F.K. Akinnifesi et al .,
unpublished results; Mhango and Akinnifesi, 2001). In a survey of farmer-
managed fruit orchards of Uapaca kirkiana , Ziziphus mauritiana and
Sclerocarya birrea , tree survival declined to 51% after 8 months and 12% after
20 months. Strychnos cocculoides also declined from 55% at 8 months to 18%
after 20 months. At 29 months, Sclerocarya birrea maintained survival at 48%
on farmer's fields, while Ziziphus mauritiana maintained survival at 50% at 29
months (Mhango and Akinnifesi, 2001). Farmers attributed poor tree survival
and growth to inefficient management, lack of water, grazing and pests. About
87% of farmers did not apply any management measure. Farmers indicated
that most of the trees that died did so within 6 months after establishment. The
gap between on-station researcher-managed orchards and farmer-managed
orchards warrants further tree management investigations and the development
of appropriate on-farm management protocols. Although our work has shown
that miombo indigenous fruits do not require soil fertility replenishment or
intensive irrigation, weeding and protection from browsing animals are
important. In addition, mycorrhizal inoculation has been stated to be a
necessity, especially at the early stage.
8.4 Postharvest Utilization and Commercialization
8.4.1 Pre-harvest and postharvest handling of indigenous fruits
One aspect of indigenous tree fruit and products that has been neglected is the
pre-harvest and postharvest handling (Ham et al. , Chapter 14, this volume).
The loss of fresh fruit produce is one of the major constraints on smallholder
horticultural crops in sub-Saharan Africa, and direct and indirect postharvest