Domestication, Utilization and Marketing of Indigenous Fruit Trees in West and Central Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 177

● Dependent : nurseries under development needing careful attention and

technical assistance from ICRAF staff and partners on weekly basis.

● Semi-dependent : the group members of these nurseries have mastered at

least one propagation technique and only require technical assistance from
ICRAF staff or partners twice a month.

● Semi-autonomous : nurseries requiring only occasional assistance as the

members have mastered at least two vegetative propagation techniques
and are applying them to other species. Members of this group are
generating income from the sale of improved plants they have produced as
well as from products from their outplanted cultivars.

9.4.2 Scaling up in the region

Scaling up of participatory domestication techniques is being implemented in
several countries in West and Central Africa. In southeast Nigeria ten satellite
nurseries have developed from an original nursery near Onne (Port Harcourt
area). In the Democratic Republic of Congo 25 nurseries have been formed in
Bandudu, Equateur and Bas Congo Provinces. In Gabon and Equatorial
Guinea the spread has been slower than in other countries, perhaps because of
the absence of NGOs in rural areas to supervise the farmers' groups. Only four
nurseries are functional in the two countries. However, a lot of emphasis has
been put on marketing studies in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. In Ghana and
Nigeria a fruitful partnership was developed with Unilever for the domestication
of Allanblackia spp. Germplasm collection and vegetative propagation
techniques were developed for this important species. In Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Guinea-Conakry it is expected that new funding will soon stimulate tree
domestication activities, as a survey undertaken in Liberia has clearly indicated
that the resource-poor population of this country, which is just getting out of
conflict, will need skills for tree domestication to improve their livelihood.

9.4.3 Integration of improved propagules in the farming systems

Studies on the integration of companion crops in cash crop fields are in progress
(Leakey and Tchoundjeu, 2001). The plants produced in village nurseries are
integrated into gaps in different cropping systems, starting from home gardens,
and extending into food crops and coffee or cocoa farms. Propagation of mature
trees by marcotting or grafting reduces the height of the resulting trees and many
farmers have found the early fruiting characteristic of marcotts a great incentive for
the adoption of this propagation technique. Moreover, the dwarf size of marcotts
makes harvesting easier for farmers, who face the possibility of a fatal accident
during fruit collection from taller trees. Cultivars developed by rooting cuttings
from juvenile coppice shoots result in plants with more vigour and strong apical
dominance. Though they fruit earlier, their height is similar to that of plants from
seedlings, making them better able to shade cash crops such as cocoa and coffee