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 401

setting involving discussions with stakeholders; and (ii) a field survey. The top
eight fruit tree species selected using the workshop approach were Adansonia
digitata , Carissa edulis , Parinari curatellifolia , Sclerocarya birrea , Tamarindus
indica and Ziziphus mauritiana (Chapter 10). The stakeholder priority list
included 11 species and they were different from the previous list: Balanites
aegyptica , Berchemia discolor , Borassus aethiopum , Carissa edulis , Cordeauxia
edulis , Sclerocarya birrea , Strychnos cocculoides , Vangueria madagascariensis ,
Vitellaria paradoxa and Vitex doniana. Just as in southern Africa, there were
country-specific priority species. A. digitata , P. curatellifolia , S. birrea , T. indica
and Z. mauritiana , S. cocculoides and Vitex doniana were independently selected
as priority species in southern East Africa (Chapters 1 and 11) . Teklehaimanot
(Chapter 11) also noted that there are some species in common between East
Africa, the Sahel (West Africa) and southern Africa, such as A. digitata , T. indica ,
Z. mauritiana and V. doniana . There are also some similar species between India
and sub-Saharan Africa, especially T. indica and Z. mauritiana (Kadzere et al. ,
1998; Gunasena and Hughes, 2000; Pareek, 2001).
In Latin America, Sotelo-Montes and Weber (1997) carried out priority-
setting using farmer-preference surveys and expert consultation from product
users and marketers. The study was based on the guidelines developed by
Franzel et al. (1996). Farmers indicated an interest in cultivating more than 150
tree species, and 23 of these were considered as priority for domestication
based on their economic value (Weber et al. , 2001). However, domestication
work has concentrated on Bactris gasipaes and Inga edulis as the two most
important fruit trees for market. F.K. Akinnifesi (unpublished) surveyed more
than 60 homegardens in São Luis, Brazil, and found more than 300 fruit tree
species, of which about 75% were IFTs. Recently, a workshop-type priority-
setting approach was conducted in Latin America, in October 2006, through a
regional fruit-tree priority-setting workshop organized in Boa Vista, Roraima,
Brazil by Initiativa Amazonica (IA). This was a strong regional workshop
drawing participants from key Amazonian countries (Brazil, Colombia,
Equador, Peru, Bolivia). The workshop concentrated on Steps 1-5 of Franzel et
al. (1996). This knowledge helped researchers to quickly select genetic material
for multiplication. Several lessons were learnt in the different approaches and
these could be applied to any other part of the world.
21.3.3 Paradigm shift in technology (bottom-up)
Most of the earlier research focused on identifying important species of IFTs,
qualitative descriptions of varieties and their potential for domestication,
germplasm collection, species performance and provenance trials (Kwesiga et
al. , 2000; Akinnifesi et al. , 2004b) generally following the forestry approach to
tree improvement. An arboretum was established at two locations, Onne and
Ibadan, by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 1979 with
40 species and 61 accessions (Kang et al. , 1994), and expanded in 1991 with
over 100 species and 376 accessions (Ng et al. , 1992). In the same way, a
species performance trial was established at Makoka in 1991.