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

Chapter 4: Trees and markets39tree species and intensification of foddersystems, especially for those trees that canprovide foods for famine times in droughtproneareas. Furthermore, improvements tobe made to tree domestication would comefrom using a combination of participatoryand biotechnology approaches rather thandepending on one or the other.Because there are lots of opportunitieswithin agroforestry to improve farmers’incomes and choices while reducing theirexposure to risk, it is vital that the full impactof farming decisions are known andconsidered up front. There is a serious riskthat relying on only one, or a handful ofagroforestry species could reduce choiceand push the less popular trees towards extinction.Some indigenous trees are alreadyin decline, particularly those with recalcitrantseeds that are hard to grow ex situ,which will reduce natural biodiversity aswell as degrade the indigenous knowledgethat goes with them. It is therefore importantto determine the best trees that can begrown in any situation, whether for generalor niche consumption, and what the economicreturns of each are. Furthermore, thegroup highlighted the fact that fruit treesshould be well managed (appropriatelyspaced, well fed, etc.) as well as geneticallyimproved to get the best results, andthese two processes should feed off eachother. Other important problems, opportunitiesand assumptions identified include:• Raising community awareness of agroforestrypractices and benefits• Priority setting for species selection• The need for landscape planning, and• Establishing subsidised or free localnurseries so that fruit trees can interactbeneficially with crops, inputs (especiallychemicals) are kept to a minimum,and diversity (ethnic, landscape andspecies) can be managed.There is a lot of opportunity for new partnershipswithin TM3, and the workinggroup recognized that the retention ofold partnerships (e.g. with Ministries ofAgriculture, Forestry, Health, Science andTechnology) is just as important as forgingnew ones. Any new partnerships withintree domestication should involve heightenedaccess to market information and alsoto specialist knowledge, for example inmedicinal trees.Bearing these factors in mind, the workinggroup suggested some areas where newprojects would come in useful. Some of themost important areas concern the removalof social or economic constraints, such asgender inequality or lack of micro-creditsor subsidies for small-scale farmers. Thereare quite a lot of untapped opportunitiesthat could be investigated, such as growingwood for small dimension, high qualitycabinet making, as well as the extensionof existing tree growing and craft-making.Overall there is a need to keep communitiesinvolved and to focus on local,small–medium-sized enterprises. Othersuggestions include:• More collaboration between tree usersand molecular biologists/other scientists• Identification of new technologies thatcan help with creating demand for treeproducts (e.g. in areas such as milling orfermentation), and• Establishment of an ‘endowment tree’ ineach environment, consisting of a treeor set of trees that will mature in around15 years and add value each year at anabove-interest rate.The working group perceived that one ofthe requirements to meet this future includedeveloping a participatory toolkit sothat communities can undertake participatorydomestication activities. This wouldinclude information on species characteristics,cultivation methods, products anduses, quality control and market data.TM4 – farmer-led development,testing and scaling up of tree-basedoptionsEmpowering farmers is one of ICRAF’s majoraims; consequently the working grouphad many grand visions for TM4. One ofthe recurring themes from the panel wasthat of inclusion, that everyone in a community– women, HIV/AIDS sufferers,special-interest groups and those living inmarginal areas – can participate in agroforestryadvances. And the numbers beingconsidered are quite substantial as well:one working group member predicted 10million farmers would adopt agroforestrytechnologies by 2015.Such a wide-scale and widespread adoptionshould become internally sustainableas empowered farmers start to demandmore services. Scaling up would becomea natural course of action as farmers participatemore fully in ‘bottom up’ researchand development, even establishing andrunning their own nurseries. This in turnwould create a range of new technologiesthat would be reflected in a more diverselandscape. Farmers will be able to choosewhich type of agroforestry system was bestfor them, and adapt it as necessary. By2015, the panel envisioned that agroforestrywould have advanced so far that it couldreach 20% of farmers in countries whereICRAF operates.To develop in this way, there needs to bea supportive policy environment that isregularly reviewed to identify any constraints.To further its promotion, agroforestryshould be brought into the syllabusand institutionalized. The end product of