The challenge of HIV/AIDS: Where does agroforestry fit in? - World ...

12World Agroforestry into the FutureTreesThe origins of tropical treedomesticationThe domestication of many species for foodand other products has been carried outfor thousands of years in almost every partof the world, often arising from extractiveuses by indigenous people (Homma 1994).The concept of domesticating trees was firstpresented by Libby (1973), but at this timeit was focused on timber trees and was virtuallysynonymous with tree improvement,including the emerging clonal approaches.In 1992, a conference was held in Edinburgh,entitled ‘Domestication of TropicalTrees: The Rebuilding of Forest Resources’(Leakey and Newton 1994a; 1994b), whichembraced tree cultivation within the conceptof domestication. The recent interestin domestication is not restricted to treespecies; a range of new herbaceous cropsare also being studied (Smartt and Haq1997). Many indigenous vegetables arecandidates for domestication (Schippers2000) and can be components of multistratasystems, where there is a need fornew shade-tolerant crops.These days, the World Agroforestry Centre’stree domestication activities fall withina Trees and Markets research theme thatstresses the commercialization of AFTPs inthe overall poverty alleviation strategy ofthe Centre. While the focus of this chapteris on the development of marketable productsfrom agroforestry trees, interest in treedomestication encompasses trees for otherpurposes such as soil amelioration, fodder,fuelwood, timber, boundary demarcation,and so on.The aim of tree domesticationThe definition of tree domestication, establishedat the 1992 Edinburgh conference,encompasses the socioeconomic and biophysicalprocesses involved in the identificationand characterization of germplasmresources; the capture, selection and managementof genetic resources; and the regenerationand sustainable cultivation of thespecies in managed ecosystems (Leakey andNewton 1994a; 1994b). This concept hassubsequently been refined and expandedwith emphasis on it being a farmer-drivenand market-led process (Leakey and Simons1998; Simons 1996; Simons and Leakey2004) that takes a participatory approachto involve local communities (Leakey et al.2003; Tchoundjeu et al. 1998). Furthermore,not just species but also whole landscapescan be domesticated as a result of changingplant exploitation practices (Wiersum 1996).Since the mid-1990s, a growing number ofdonors have recognized the potential of treedomestication to achieving ICRAF’s visionand mandate for agroforestry to contributeto both poverty alleviation and the provisionof environmental services (see Figure 1). Therationale is that domestication and commercializationof indigenous trees throughagroforestry will provide an incentive forsubsistence farmers to plant trees in waysthat will reduce poverty and enhance foodand nutritional security, human health andenvironmental sustainability. In this way,agroforestry tree domestication is seenas an important component of strategiesto achieve the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (Garrity 2004; also see Chapter 1 thisvolume, especially goals relating to environmentalsustainability and food security(Goals 1 and 3–8: www.un.org/millenniumgoals).It is important to note, however, thatto bring about effective outcomes from thisresearch the messages have to be clearlyand widely disseminated to farmers, forestersand many relevant institutions.The genetic improvement of trees has usuallybeen the prerogative of national andinternational research institutes, but sincethe start of the Centre’s Tree DomesticationProgramme (a forerunner to its Trees andMarkets theme), the approach pursued hasbeen a participatory one.The Humid Lowlands of West and CentralAfrica (HULWA) was the first of theCentre’s regions to develop participatoryapproaches that went beyond simply collectinggermplasm. This started with thedevelopment of guidelines for speciespriority setting, derived by a partnership ofinternational and national scientists withfarmers and both non-governmental andcommunity-based organizations (Franzel etal. 1996). This project has since evolved inseveral ways:1. It now includes a range of differentspecies.2. It has used, disseminated and refined asimple low-technology system for thevegetative propagation of tropical trees,appropriate for use in small, low-costvillage nurseries (Leakey et al. 1990;Mbile et al. 2004; Shiembo et al. 1997).3. It has been quantitatively examining thetree-to-tree variation in a range of fruitand nut traits to determine the potentialfor highly productive and qualitativelysuperior cultivars (e.g. Anegbeh et al.2005; Atangana et al. 2002; Leakeyet al. 2005c; Ngo Mpeck et al. 2003;Waruhiu et al. 2004).4. Perhaps most importantly, it has beensuccessfully scaled-up to regional level(Tchoundjeu et al. 1998) and nowencompasses 40 villages in southernCameroon (about 2500 farmers) 11 villagesin Nigeria (2000 farmers), 3 villagesin Gabon (800 farmers) and 2 villages inEquatorial Guinea (500 farmers).Together these developments result in amodel participatory domestication strategy.This strategy is aligned with the United