Ensuring Access to Plant Resources for Meeting Market Demand Zac Tchoundjeu and Antoine Kalinganire ICRAF West and Central Africa Region First Africa Dry Lands Week, Dakar, 10-17 June 2011

ARTICULATIONS Why high-value indigenous fruit trees and medicinal plants are not widely used in regeneration programs? Could Participatory Tree Domestication change the perception of indigenous tree species? Could livelihood of local population being improved by production and marketing agroforestry species? Could participatory tree domestication increase active participation of rural farmers to Great Green Wall Program

2008 World Development Report (www.worldbank.org/wdr2008) Agriculture fundamental to sustainable development in Africa Lead sector for overall growth, poverty reduction and food security It is happening — growth accelerating with better incentives Focus must now be on increasing smallholder productivity Approach tailored to diverse rainfed farming systems

Increase Yields, Decrease Poverty South Asia Sub-Saharan Africa: Source: Agriculture for Development, World Development Report, World Bank, 2008.

Seed and seedling supply systems Policy conclusions: Transaction costs should be reduced by promoting smaller seed enterprises as part of a commercial commodity chain in a market that encourages the operation of small, competitive seed and seedling retailers. Markets should be developed by supporting more efficient local and regional retail markets and facilitation of production of a wider range of suitable species of high genetic quality, based on promotion of impartial public norms. Breeding material should be made available by providing input to private seed retailers from publicly supported breeding and conservation programmes New seed systems should be implemented. The elements of new models for decentralised and privately operated tree seed systems have been developed and are ready to be put into operation for the benefit of the many smallholders growing trees on their private lands. My notes: Trees on-farm have therefore moved out of the traditional forestry plantation sphere. Compared to traditional tree plantation establishment, this development poses at least three major challenges for the supply of planting material (input supply): (i) Tree products have the potential to become major cash earners for smallholders and there is interest in a much wider array of species and crops, including fruit trees (like mango, avocado and apples), major tropical and subtropical perennial crops (like coffee, cacao, and rubber), as well as a vast number of indigenous species (for which scientific and local knowledge indicates economic potential) and exotic agroforestry species (such as fodder shrubs and timber trees). (ii) Delivery of planting material to large numbers of smallholders requires logistics different from what is needed for plantation forestry. For smallholder agroforestry, sources of reproductive material as well as delivery networks need to be decentralised in order to reach the smallholders interested in planting. (iii) If smallholders are to be integrated into value chains for tree products then demand from smallholders for planting material should be linked to demand from customers for agroforestry products. Efficient value chains for agroforestry products have to encompass efficient input supply chains.

Key Problems: Management Natural Resources over-centralization of tree seed supply at national levels inadequate tree germplasm conservation programs (national and international) scarcity of tools and practices for on-farm tree propagation and management low regional coordination in introduction, testing and release of tree germplasm. scarcity of well-documented, characterized and comprehensive tree germplasm collections for domestication and conservation

ICRAF’s INNOVATIVE APPROACH: the Participatory Tree Domestication

Participatory Tree Domestication (PTD) Put simply PTD refers to: The means communities select, propagate and manage high-value indigenous fruit trees and medicinal plants and integrate them in the various farming systems, Species for domestication are mainly selected encompassing indigenous knowledge and genetic selection based on scientific principles A strong partnership is developed with scientists, civic authorities and private companies. PTD is a farmer driven and market lead process. It focuses on species farmers consume best with high potentials for local, regional and international markets

Tree species domesticated in the West African Sahel - Parkia biglobosa (néré) - Vitellaria paradoxa (shea butter) - Ziziphus mauritiana (Sahel apple) - Adansonia digitata (baobab) - Tamarindus indica (tamarind) - Faidherbia albidia (gao or cad)

How to multiply the selected species: rooting cuttings

Case studies in the Sahel

How to multiply the selected species: air layering

Collectives action / Group Sales Njansang Examples Collectives action / Group Sales Sensitization Meetings Group Dynamics Improve harvest and post-harvest techniques Guarantee Funds Farmer Enterprise Development In Cameroon Farmers Building linkages between farmers and traders Workshop & Training Market Survey

Cycle of Tree domestication Tree nurseries Selection and cultivar dev. Traders Processing and Exporting Enterprises Tree producers Consumers Info on desired fruit characteristics Consumer preferences

The contribution of the use of P. biglobosa to household income Each household used a monthly average of 14.4 kg of seeds and 10.6 kg of pulp. P. biglobosa contributed to 53% to family net income throughout the production period

Summary Participatory Tree Domestication help farmers to acquire vegetative propagation techniques therefore plant early fruiting materials of known characteristics It helps to circumvent the lack of sounded seeds for any regeneration thus the participation of farmers to Green Great Wall by planting high-value indigenous fruit trees and medicinal plants. Marketing of agroforestry products helps to improve livelihood of local population. But we need to plant the right tree at the right place.

The right tree for the right place 1. Trees for Products fruit firewood medicine income sawnwood fodder 2. Trees for Services soil fertility carbon sequestration soil erosion watershed protection shade biodiversity

MANY THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION