Accelerated Domestication and Commercialization of Indigenous Fruit and Nut Trees to Enhance Better Livelihoods in the Tropics: Lessons and Way Forward - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 394

Domestication aims at promoting the cultivation of IFTs with economic
potential as new cash crops, and provides incentive to subsistence farmers to
plant trees that contribute towards achieving the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) of poverty reduction and enhancement of food and nutritional
security (Leakey et al. , 2005). From the preceding chapters, the following have
emerged as benefits of domestication:

● Desirable fruit traits . This involves development of cultivars with high

productivity, harvest index, superior quality, improved food value and
acceptability. As highlighted in Chapter 6, many of the Amazonian fruits
have not been attractive to the market for various reasons: some require
processing, most have a short shelf life, and they are of variable quality
because they are seed-propagated. This is true of most IFTs in the tropics,
and suggests the need for selection and improvement of wild cultivars for
desirable quality trait(s) (Chapters 1, 2, 8 and 9) and higher market values
(Chapters 12 and 14). Some trees can produce fruit twice within the same
year, and some can have delayed or late fruiting. Examples of how these
traits have been captured are found in Chapter 9.

● Precocity . One of the major problems identified by farmers and stakeholders

across the regions and reported in many chapters of this topic is the desire to
reduce the juvenile phase and shorten the period before first fruiting of IFTs
(Chapters 1, 2, 6, 8, 9). For instance, U. kirkiana takes 12-16 years to fruit in
the wild (Chapter 8), Irvingia gabonensis , Chrysophyllum albidum and
Garcinia kola are all known to fruit late in West Africa (Chapter 9).
Allanblackia floribunda may take at least 20 years to produce fruit (Rompaey,
2005). This is an urgent case warranting domestication that targets fruit
production in a fraction of the time required in natural stands. Such a long
maturity period tends to discourage farmer adoption and private investment
in IFTs, especially in low-income countries. The long period that it takes before
enjoying the benefits from tree-based agriculture is one of the reasons that
farmers in Zambia see it as a constraint to the adoption of agroforestry tree
species (Ajayi, 2007). Therefore, domestication plays a significant role in
ensuring that trees produce quality fruits in a shorter period of time, using
proven strategies (Chapter 2).

● Inconsistency and inadequate supply: quality and quantity . Market

preference is for consistency in the supply of quality fruit traits in terms of
uniformity and regularity. For example, the quality of wine made from
açaí-do-Pará ( Euterpe oleracea ) varies, due to variations in quality, harvest
and postharvest practices; limitations that impact on food quality and
safety (Chapter 6). Production in insufficient quantities has been a major
market limitation in many cases, especially for products that have captured
global markets. This was reported for camu camu ( Myrciaria floribunda ) in
Latin America (Chapter 6), and is also the case for Sclerocarya birrea
(marula), which relies almost entirely on wild harvests or semi-
domesticated stands, and has limited entrepreneurial interest in some IFTs
promoted in southern Africa. On the other hand, because of the
abundance and availability of some species in the wild, the scope for their