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 17

because fruiting seasons of the same species vary by latitude (Kadzere et al .,
1998). Other household surveys identified other critical problems for research to
address: reduced fibre content in Azanza garckeana , pest and disease resistance
for P. curatellifolia, and longer shelf life for Flacourtia indica , P. curatellifolia , U.
kirkiana and Ficus sycomorus (Akinnifesi et al ., 2006).
Dynamics in users' preferences among priority fruit species: 1995-2004
In order to understand whether farmers' preferences of indigenous fruit tree
species are the same throughout the region, we collated priority-setting
information collected by different researchers at different times and locations in
the region. These included both household surveys and market surveys done
between 1995 and 2004 (Table 1.9). A new prioritization exercise was also
carried out for Mozambique in Tete and Manica provinces. The results were
triangulated to obtain regional priority species. The results showed that priority
species vary with location in the region, but a common thread can be seen in the
first three priority species that is similar to the earlier results (Table 1.7). The five
most preferred indigenous fruit trees across the countries were analysed and
ranked as follows: Uapaca kirkiana , Strychnos cocculoides , Parinari curatellifolia ,
Ziziphus mauritiana and Adansonia digitata. Of these, U. kirkiana , S. cocculoides
and P. curatellifolia remain the three most preferred species in the region,
confirming the validity of the previous regional survey in four countries by
Maghembe et al. (1998). In addition, Z. mauritiana and A. digitata broke into the
top-ranking species in the new analysis. Fruits from these two species are unique
in that they would store better than most miombo indigenous fruits. Z. mauritiana
is well traded in Malawi (Kaaria, 1998; Schomburg et al ., 2002) and Zimbabwe
(Ramadhani, 2002), and is probably one of the most widely traded local fresh
fruits in the region after U. kirkiana .
In Malawi, Adansonia digitata has been commercialized as 'mlambe' juice
which is sold in supermarkets. Strychnos cocculoides seems to be more
strongly preferred than Uapaca kirkiana in Zimbabwe. In Tanzania, Vitex
mombassae and S. cocculoides are important, followed by Parinari
curatellifolia and U. kirkiana. Because of the commercial potential of
Sclerocarya birrea , it was also included in the domestication programme in
southern Africa (Akinnifesi et al. , 2006); however, it was not captured as a
high-priority species by communities in the five countries. This is the
shortcoming of priority setting based on surveys, as communities are seldom
knowledgeable about regional or global markets outside their own country.
Many of the species-preference surveys undertaken in the region
deliberately omitted exotic fruits from the ranking lists (Kwesiga and Mwanza,
1995; Kadzere et al ., 1998; Maghembe et al ., 1998; Ramadhani et al ., 1998;
Rukuni et al ., 1998). This was a major shortcoming because it was difficult to
identify the relative preferences for different indigenous fruit trees in situations
where investors or development agencies were interested in identifying the fruit
species most relevant to communities' livelihoods. We carried out two new
surveys during 2002-2004 to assess the relative preference for all fruits by
smallholder farmers in southern Malawi (Table 1.10). This was also compared