Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
treasures' of the wild. Although most of the fruits from IFTs are still being
harvested from the wild, there is a general move away from sole dependence
on wild harvesting, especially in Latin America, where considerable
government initiatives have supported IFT domestication. There is evidence
that participatory domestication approaches have been applied in the three
continents, and may have had positive impacts on livelihoods.
We propose a set of innovative IFT research and development efforts that
could help bring about changes in cultivation, scaling-up, markets and small-scale
enterprises in the tropics. The improved performance in the marketing of
agroforestry fruit tree products (AFTPs) would stimulate growth in the rural
economy. Efforts should be directed at strengthening and supporting local
industries and enterprises based on IFT crops and products. This can be achieved
by linking them with markets and providing a supportive policy environment to
facilitate and support IFTs. It is hypothesized that if trees and their products are
economically valuable, farmers will plant and nurture them (Russell and Franzel,
2004). Rather than technological change alone, we recommend that the
development of IFTs should place balanced emphasis on the economics, the
people and the institutional and policy context under which they are grown.
The varied experiences reported in this volume reveal three core principles
that must underpin effective domestication strategy for IFTs in the tropics:
1. Application of farmer-centred, market-led approaches involving careful
participatory selection of the right species and elite cultivars to be promoted,
and the development of low-cost simple propagation techniques, establishment
and management practice in cooperation with farmers.
2. Postharvest handling, product development and prospecting of IFT
products.
3. Market research, enterprise development and commercialization.
If these principles are followed, the success stories of IFTs' contribution to the
livelihoods of farmers and substantial income-generation evident in several
communities across Africa, Asia and Latin America can be multiplied through
scaling-up and widespread uptake by users.
Finally, there is a need to build networks around IFTs and AFTPs involving
local farmers' associations, nursery operators and entrepreneurs, community-
based organizations and NGOs, processors and private sectors. This will provide
a stronger platform for sharing lessons, experiences, technologies and policy
advocacy.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Agency for Technical
Cooperation (GTZ) for providing the funds for implementing the project on
'Domestication and Marketing of Indigenous Fruit Trees for Improved Nutrition
and Income in Southern Africa' (Project No. 2001.7860.8-001.00) and the
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for funding the Zambezi
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