Improving Rural Livelihoods through Domestication of Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Parklands of the Sahel - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 188

10.2 Principal Uses of Major Species
10.2.1 Baobab ( Adansonia digitata L.)
In the Sahel, the natural range of baobab extends from Chad to Senegal.
Baobab is associated with other species in the savannahs, especially in the drier
parts of West Africa (Sidibé and Williams, 2002). It is one of the most
characteristic species in the region because of its massive size and its importance
in people's lives. Baobab trees are one of the main sources of income, food and
nutritional security during the dry season in the Sahel. All parts of the tree are
exploited. The bark is used for making ropes. The leaves, bark, fruit pulp, seed
and roots are used for medicines. Juice, rich in vitamin C, is prepared from the
fruit pulp. The sun-dried fruit pulp can also be eaten either raw or added to
sauces (A. Niang, unpublished results). The leaves are the staple vegetable used
in sauces consumed with cereal-based meals. Seeds are also used in soups or
roasted and consumed as snacks. Sidibé and Williams (2002) present a
thorough review of the importance of the baobab in the Sahel.
Baobab fruits mature during the dry season, providing the products
mentioned above, whereas the leaves are typically harvested during the rainy
season, then dried and stored for further use during the long dry season. Most
rural people consume the leaves in sauces. Leaves can also be produced and
harvested all year round in irrigated baobab gardens, a technology developed
by ICRAF and its partners in West Africa. It is widely recognized that baobab
leaves are an extremely valuable source of protein, vitamin A and essential
minerals. However, the traditional method of sun-drying can reduce the
vitamin A content (Sidibé et al ., 1996).
The fruits and leaves of baobab are important sources of income in the
Sahel. Surveys carried out in Bamako and Ségou, Mali, show that prices range
between 250 and 500 F CFA/kg for various dried leaf and fruit products (C.O.
Traoré, unpublished results).
10.2.2 Detar ( Detarium microcarpum G. et Perr.)
Detar occurs naturally in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of Senegal, Mali and
Burkina Faso, as well as in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Sudan. In Mali it is
threatened because of extensive fruit collection, uncontrolled tree cutting,
overgrazing and bushfires (Kouyaté, 2005).
Fruits of the detar are consumed raw or cooked, or processed into cakes,
which sell at 5-25 F CFA per cake (Kouyaté, 2005). Fruits are sold to
Senegalese merchants for 100 F CFA/kg at Kita (Mali) along the Mali-Senegal
railway (M.M. Sidibé, unpublished data). The net revenue from the sale of
100 kg of fruit in western Mali can reach 200 F CFA in periods of abundance
and 3000 F CFA during the off-season. The pulp is used to make an alcoholic
beverage and in the preparation of couscous. The fruit has the following
nutritional values: 3.2 mg vitamin C, 4.9 g protein and 64.5 g of sugar per
100 g (Kouyaté, 2005).