The management of tree genetic resources and the livelihoods of rural communities in the tropics: non-timber forest products, smallholder agroforestry practices and tree commodity crops

Products and services provided by trees in forests and farmland support the needs and promote the wellbeing of hundreds of millions of people in the tropics. Value depends on managing both the diversity of tree species present in landscapes and the genetic variation within these species. The benefits from trees and their genetic resources are, however, often not well quantified because trade is frequently outside formal markets, there is a multiplicity of species and ways in which trees are used and managed, and genetic diversity within species is frequently not given proper consideration. We review here what is known about the value of trees to rural communities through considering three production categories: non-timber products harvested from trees in natural and managed forests and woodlands; the various products and services obtained from a wide range of trees planted and/or retained in smallholders’ agroforestry systems; and the commercial products harvested from cultivated tree commodity crops. Where possible, we focus on the role of intra-specific genetic variation in providing support to livelihoods, and for each of the three production categories we also consider wider conservation and sustainability issues, including the linkages between categories in terms of management. Challenges to ‘conventional wisdom’ on tree resource use, value and management – such as in the posited links between commercialisation, cultivation and conservation – are highlighted, and constraints and opportunities to maintain and enhance value are described

Farmers\' Participation In Ex-Situ Conservation Of Indigenous Fruit Trees In Southern Nigeria

Farmer Participatory Research (FPR) is a new approach, which the World Agro forestry Centre (ICRAF), International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), NGOs and farmers are using to effectively design and implement community-based conservation project in Nigeria prior to ex-situ conservation. Socioeconomic and market surveys were conducted and base-line data collected in seven communities. Results from seven pilot sites in Southern Nigeria indicate that community farmers readily adopted tree domestication, increasingly acquired skills, easily established community nurseries, enthusiastically identified and conserved economic fruit trees, including Irvingia gabonensis, Irvingia wombolu, Dacryodes edulis, Chrysophyllum albidum, Garcinia kola, in the rural communities. The participatory approach, which involves rural farmers direct involvement in decision making and in the development of suitable practices, is not only effective in reducing genetic loss, but also increases availability and yields of indigenous fruit trees (non-timber forest products). Journal of Agriculture and Social Research Vol. 4 (2) 2004: 33-4