The little-understood indigenous African fruit trees

What do ‘monkey bread’, desert date, and jujube have in common?

For one, they are fruit trees native to sub-Saharan Africa, mostly known only in their immediate localities. They are also united by a severe shortage of research data on their nutritional composition. As researchers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) discovered, information on the composition of these, and seven similar indigenous African tree species, is “limited and fragmented.” Read more. . .

Trees and food security in Africa; what’s the link?

Fruits_as_a_result_of_agroforestry-CharlieP-Smith
Fruits as a result of agroforestry. Photo by Charlie Pye-Smith/ICRAF

The right trees, coupled with the right varieties of crops, rural advisory services, and a supportive policy environment can have a huge impact on crop yields, nutrition and income in Africa. And because smallholder farmers feed and nourish most of Africa’s 1 billion population, this is where we must start.

Agroforestry systems in Africa range from open parkland assemblages, home gardens, mixtures of trees with one or several crops, and trees planted in hedges and boundaries of fields and farms. Thanks to a rich body of science-based knowledge that brings the best in ‘agro’ and ‘forest’ together, farmers can select the right tree and crop associations for the right place. Well designed agroforestry systems provide benefits that cannot be attained from monocrops. Read more. . .

Grafted cocoa wows farmers and visitors at Petit Bondoukou

Around two years ago when the Vision for Change cocoa project opened up a centre in Petit Bondoukou village in Côte d’Ivoire, local farmers were invited to participate in field trials aimed at sustainably improving cocoa yields. Mr Koume Koume was among the first farmers to sign up. Today, his decision to offer up a portion of his cocoa farm for demonstration trials under the project is paying off.

Mr Kouame Koume is involved in cocoa trials at Petit Bondoukou village, as part of the Vision for Change project. Photo: Claude Adjehi/ICRAF
Mr Kouame Koume is involved in cocoa trials at Petit Bondoukou village, as part of the Vision for Change project. Photo: ICRAF/CDI

The quarter-hectare section of Koume’s farm in which old and under-producing cocoa trees were grafted with a high-yielding variety has become the talk of the village. Visitors and passers-by marvel at the large, heavy cocoa pods on trees grafted just 18 months ago.  And the 40 year-old father of six says he is glad he chose to join the cocoa trials back in October 2010. Read more. . .