Priorities for Domestication of Native Fruits: Key Stakeholders and Attitudes

Simon Mng’omba and Festus Akinnifesi

1st National Workshop on Native Fruits

Matola, Mozambique 10th September 2015

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• Importance of Native Fruits - Fruit Portfolio

• Status of Naïve Fruits in southern Africa

• Native Fruit Domestication Process

• Priority Setting Process

• Research to managing native fruits

• Changing farmers’ attitude

• Scaling up model for Native Fruits

• Conclusions

Importance of Native Fruits

Native fruits for

Food and Nutrition security

– low fruit consumption in SA (70 g/day vs 200 g/day)

– available during the lean food period

Income

high in fibre good for digestion

low production cost – perennial (High Value Crops)

Tree Species Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep

Avocado

Citrus

Parinari curatellifolia

Mangoes

Uapaca kirkiana

Strychnos cocculoides

Syzygium cordatum

Annona seneghalesis

Azanza garckeana

Flacourtia indica

Vangueria infausta

Vitex doniana

Adansonia digitata

Ziziphus mauritiana

Fruit Portfolio Year-Round

0

20

40

60

80

100

No.

of

house

hold

s fa

cin

g s

hort

age

Zambia

MalawiHungry/cropping

season

Harvest/off- season

Status of native fruits in southern Africa

• All the harvest is from the wild

provided by nature & no need to cultivate them (attitude)

Food for the poor

• Limited investment for improvement

• Dwindling knowledge – limited pass on knowledge

• Limited research

retain massive size making planting & management difficult

not improved through selection/breeding

• Limited protection - a few in FR, home gardens,

volunteer stands, farmlands etc.

Domestication

Tree domestication

a human-induced evolution to bring species into

wider cultivation through a farmer-driven and

market-led process (Franzel et al. 2008)

Process:

• involves identification, selection, propagation,

management and adoption of desirable fruit

germplasm

Prioritizing Native Fruits

Priority setting - seeks to bring about agreement & consensus

among different stakeholders.

• Part of Domestication Research - select, propagate &

manage species with high impact (Simons & Leakey 2004).

• Impact – high income, nutrition or conserving biodiversity

• Data on quantities & values produced & consumed needed.

• Participatory - integrating views/expertise of many

stakeholders: - farmers, researchers, development

practitioners, policy makers etc.

Priority setting process (Franzel et al. 2008)

1. Planning & team building – workshops (many stakeholders)

2. Define client groups - user groups (beneficiaries)

3. Preferred species assessment - Desktop studies and field

work (surveys)

4. Product prioritization – rank tree products & services

5. Identifying key species – based on commercial value,

adoption, propagation, other benefits etc.

6. Choice of species - priority species reviewed and agreed

upon

Different stakeholder involvement in Domestication

Native Fruit Domestication

• Select priority species: participatory (farmers, scientists, marketers,

users/consumers etc.) – several stakeholders needed

• Encourage farmers continue on-farm conservation & sustainable

exploitation alongside tree crops (changing farmers’ attitudes)

• Use vegetative propagation methods (grafting, budding, layering etc.)

– capture desirable traits in wild tree populations, quality fruits &

resolving long juvenile phase (researchers/scientists needed)

• Lobby for investment in Native fruit domestication/improvement

• Train nursery operators to ensure - access to superior stocks for

multiplication & distribution (scaling up and out)

Genebank / on-farm Research

Screening plots and on-farm trials

• should be established for further selection/breeding

Phenology, physiology & propagation studies

• Research on native fruit phenology, physiology and

profitable propagation options

Varietal selection

• fruit improvement: pulp taste, aroma and texture, fruit

size and shape (main pomological attributes of fruit

quality)

Uapaca kirkiana fruit thinning

• In the wild - small fruit size & high fruit load (up to 6000

fruits/tree)

• On-farm land - small fruit size and high fruit load

2.5

3

3.5

5 cm 10 cm 15 cmFru

it s

ize (

cm)

Fruit thinning spacing

Uapaca - wild

Uapaca - orchard

Native Fruits - New Crops for the Future

Clonal propagation

(grafting)

Seedling

rootstock

Identify putative

cultivars using PRA

At nursery

Clonal orchards

(on-station and on-farm)

Selected true-to-type/name

elite cultivars

(mother blocks)

Named cultivars for pilot dissemination

Seeds of known traits

Collected from wild

Semi wild, ex circa

trees and labelled

Elite cultivars

Strategy for Selecting Putative Cultivars

Domestication checklist Yes

Priority setting – farmers, marketers, consumers,

researchers etc. (but priority changes)

Germplasm collection – passport data, geo-reference,

seed & vegetative propagules

Screening orchards/plots (genebanks)

Genetic & morphological characterization

Tree improvement (rootstock selection)

Field management protocol (spacing, fruit thinning)

Vegetative propagation

Cultivar development

Dissemination and adoption

Participatory Selection of Superior Uapaca kirkiana

MW26

MW42

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

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40

45

50

MW14

MW11

MW9

MW2

MW15

MW5

MW13

MW3

MW6

MW1

MW10

MW26

MW30

MW28

MW32

MW29

MW19

MW31

MW24

MW23

MW25

MW21

MW17

MW20

MW18

MW22

MW27

MW46

MW37

MW44

MW35

MW36

MW45

MW43

MW41

MW42

MW34

MW53

MW55

MW59

MW51

MW52

MW69

MW61

MW48

MW50

MW71

MW49

MW54

MW60

MW62

MW58

MW63

MW67

MW66

MW64

MW68

MW70

MW57

MW56

MW80

MW81

MW86

MW84

MW93

MW83

MW85

MW98

MW90

MW87

MW82

MW94

MW92

MW95

MW79

MW107

MW106

MW99

MW104

MW100

MW101

MW97

MW105

MW102

M alem ia-Zom ba Y esaya village-dedza K asum bu-D edza N khum ba-P halom be N azom be-P halom be M zikubola-M zim ba

Accession Code

Mean

fru

it w

eig

ht

(g)

Fruit mass of Uapaca kirkiana phenotypes in Malawi (Akinnifesi et al. 2008

Example of selecting superior Uapaca phenotypes

Changing farmers’ attitude - training (propagation, RRC)

Managing Native fruits (screening )

Un-grafted Grafted S. birrea

Grafted trees

dwarf

precocity

close spacing

Confusing farmers

o 10 x 10 m

o 8 x 8 m

o 5 x 5 m

• Tree size and spacing: rootstock selection

• Fruit load and size: fruit thinning

• Dioecious trees: Uapaca & Marula

• sex ratio

• rejuvenation

• Select resistant/tolerant rootstocks to biotic stress

• Select rootstock with graft compatibility & high yield

• Select cultivars with reduced tree size for easy

management (controls scion vigor)

• Selecting promising cultivars with greater economic yield

per unit area (Enhanced productivity)

Value addition of native fruit produce

• value added products from fresh produce for market

diversification of native fruits (boost farmers’ expected

revenue and encourage them to embark on

domestication)

Rootstock development

Scaling up model for Native Fruits

Resolving long juvenile phase and dioecy: (e.g. Uapaca & S. birrea)

• Supply two species with - short & long fruiting precocity

• Use grafted plants to reduce juvenile phase

0

10

20

30

2008 2009 2010

Time (years)

Fru

it y

ield

(kg)

Fig 1a Grafted Uapaca Fig. 1 b Grafted Vangueria

Both species planted in 2004

0

50

100

150

200

2007 2008 2009 2010

Tota

l fr

uit y

ield

(kg)

Time (years)

93%

30%

32% 36%

89% 76%

100%

Conclusions

Native fruits are important. So we need

• Investments to bring them into wider cultivation

• Participation of several stakeholders for superior

cultivar selection

• Change of mind set (attitude) - provided by nature, but

requires our attention

• Better documentation & research for cultivar

development

• Develop propagation & management protocols (better

yields)

Planting more native fruit trees on-farm is not good enough for food

and nutrition security and increased income. We need better

orchard management

Thank You !

S.Mngomba@cgiar.org

World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

Lilongwe, Malawi