Setting Priorities among Indigenous Fruit Tree Species in Africa: Examples from Southern, Eastern and Western Africa Regions - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 15

1.3.3 Miombo woodlands of southern Africa

Farmer preference surveys

The area surveyed in southern Africa was the miombo woodlands, which is
characterized by a single rainy season (800-1200 mm/year) and altitude
600-1200 m above sea level. Four countries were included in the survey:
Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There was considerable agreement in
the perceived importance of species across countries (Table 1.8). Three species
were widely regarded as important. In all four countries, Uapaca kirkiana was
mentioned as important by over 50% of farmers, Parinari curatellifolia was
important for at least 40% and Strychnos cocculoides for at least 30%. All three
species were among the top five in all four countries, as measured by the
frequency with they were mentioned as a priority species. U. kirkiana also had
the highest average preference score in the three countries where such scores
were computed. This shows that it was highly preferred among those
mentioning it. P. curatellifolia had the third highest preference score in each of
the three countries and S. cocculoides was rated ninth in Malawi, fifth in

Table 1.8. Overall ranking and importance value of the top 20 miombo fruits selected for
domestication by farmers in Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Malawi Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe

APS a Species name % APS % APS % APS %

Uapaca kirkiana 77 9.3 53 9.3 85 9.5 70

Parinari curatellifolia 55 8.4 43 8.9 80 9.0 57

Strychnos cocculoides 32 7.0 64 8.2 52 7.7 78

Anisophyllea boehmii 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 75 7.9 0

Azanza garckeana 20 6.6 0 0 .0 11 5.4 52

Flacourtia indica 29 7.4 3 7.0 19 6.5 26

Syzygium guineense 11 7.4 1 8.0 39 5.4 0

Strychnos pungens 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 16 5.0 31

Physalis peruviana 2 6.5 0 0 .0 35 4.7 0

Uapaca nitida 1 1.0 0 0 .0 35 6.0 0

Ximenia americana 7 7.6 1 6.0 27 4.0 0

Diospyros mespiliformis 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 8 8.6 28

Tamarindus indica 10 5.9 33 8.9 7 8.3 0

Vangueria infausta 19 7.3 16 6.5 3 9.0 4

Annona senegalensis 19 8.1 1 7.0 5 8.4 7

Vitex payos 1 7.0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 34

Adansonia digitata 12 8.5 1 8.0 10 9.5 3

Syzygium spp. 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 0 0 .0 28

Vitex mombassae 0 0 .0 46 9.0 1 5.0 0

Vitex doniana 8 6.4 26 8.1 1 5.5 0

% = percentage of households mentioning the species.
APS = average preference scores for those households mentioning the species: '10'
indicates a rank of 1st, '9' a rank of 2nd, etc.
a Data on average preference scores were not available for Zimbabwe.
Source: Kadzere et al. (1998).