Towards a Domestication Strategy for Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 28

2

Towards a Domestication
Strategy for Indigenous
Fruit Trees in the Tropics

R.R.B. L EAKEY 1 AND F.K. A KINNIFESI 2

1 Agroforestry and Novel Crops Unit, School of Tropical Biology,
James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia ;
2 World Agroforestry Centre, ICRAF, Lilongwe, Malawi

2.1 Introduction

Increasingly, agroforestry trees are being improved in quality and productivity
through the processes of market-driven domestication (Simons, 1996; Simons
and Leakey, 2004; Leakey et al ., 2005d), based on strategies that consider:
(i) the needs of the farmers, their priorities for domestication (Maghembe et al .,
1998; Franzel et al ., Chapter 1, this volume) and an inventory of the natural
resource (Shackleton et al ., 2003a); (ii) the sustainable production of
agroforestry tree products, including fruits, nuts, medicinals and nutriceuticals,
timber, etc.; (iii) the restoration of degraded land and reduction of
deforestation; and (iv) the wise use and conservation of genetic resources.
These approaches to tree domestication are being implemented in southern
and western Africa (Akinnifesi et al ., 2006; Tchondjeu et al ., 2006).
There are two main pathways within a domestication strategy (Fig. 2.1).
Domestication can be implemented on-farm by the farmers (Phase 1), who
bring the trees into cultivation themselves (Leakey et al ., 2004), or through
programmes of genetic improvement on research stations (Leakey and Simons,
1998). In recent years, however, scientific approaches are also being
introduced into on-farm domestication through the application of participatory
approaches to tree improvement (Phase 2). In this approach, researchers
typically act as mentors, helping and advising the farmers, and sometimes
jointly implementing on-farm research. Participatory approaches have
numerous advantages (Leakey et al ., 2003), building on tradition and culture
and promoting rapid adoption by growers to enhance livelihood and
environmental benefits (Simons and Leakey, 2004). Both these pathways to
domestication should be targeted at meeting market opportunities, which
should examine traditional as well as emerging markets (Shackleton et al .,
2003b).