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 407

2006). There was little information on the specific management practices
adopted by farmers. However, farmers had expressed concern that fruit yields
produced by planted trees were not as high as those of wild stands, and
excessive variation on-farm (Penn, 2006) warranted proper domestication
approaches to be followed (Chapter 2). Farmers also expressed a desire to gain
more knowledge and experience in order to improve their fruit yields.
In addition, preharvest management has not been well studied for most
IFTs. For tree crops such as mangoes, preharvest management practices that
could improve fruit yield and qualities include de-fruiting and pest control.
These are areas that need further investigation in IFT research.
21.4.2 Cultivation, adoption and scaling-up of IFTs
Once appropriate planting material has been identified, the next step is how to
apply the most effective method to disseminate it. It is important to provide
farmers with high-quality germplasm and make it available in a timely manner.
The process is time-consuming and expensive to undertake individually for
each species, especially when a large number of participating farmers are
dispersed over a wide area. One of the most effective ways of achieving
scaling-up of IFT cultivation is to involve farmers in the entire process of
participatory selection, propagation, nursery and tree establishment and
management of superior planting materials (Chapters 2, 8 and 9). This will
dramatically shorten the time required to produce and disseminate planting
materials from centralized nurseries to farmers. Farmers can be organized to
produce high-quality seed, seedlings and vegetative propagules as evidenced in
the small-scale nursery enterprises managed by farmers' groups in West Africa
(Tchoundjeu et al. , 2006; Chapter 9, this volume) and in Peru (Weber et al. ,
2001). Weber et al. (2001) estimated that farmers can earn as much as
US$1000 per year from such small-scale enterprises, and many of them now
see this as a good investment. The fruit orchards established by farmers can
also serve as mother blocks where propagules such as seeds and scions could
be collected for future use and scaling-up. The participatory approach used by
IIAP (Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana) and INIA (Instituto
Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria) in 2000 is described by Clement et al.
in Chapter 6, whereby farmers identify plants with elite characteristics, and the
research team collects samples (seeds and cuttings). After propagation, the
research team returns some of the plants to the farmer and the other plants are
established on-station in clonal and progeny trials. Farmers also expand from
their own orchards and can sell to neighbours. They participate in evaluation of
all progenies from their farms and those of INIA. This approach seems to be
common to Latin America (Chapter 8), southern Africa (Akinnifesi et al ., 2006)
and West Africa (Tchoundjeu et al. , 2006).
In 1996, the Programa Nacional de Camu Camu (PNCC) was reported to
have aimed at establishing 10,000 ha of camu camu by 10,000 farmers in a
large afforestation programme along the flood plains to supplement wild
harvesting and to raise incomes. The number of cultivators in Peru expanded