Notes to Broadcasters on conserving fruit trees:
Date Posted: March 31st, 2008
The exploitation of forest products – especially wood – is often associated with deforestation and other environmental problems such as soil erosion and desertification. But this story illustrates how the sustainable exploitation of forest products, such as fruit from wild and indigenous trees, can provide people with an incentive to conserve woodlands. In this case, the Agricultural Institute in Tumbi got the conservation effort started when they obtained a grant of 60,000 British pounds (120,000 United States dollars, or 75,000 Euros) from the British NGO, FARM Africa. Now the people of Tabaro Region are able to make a living from the trees without destroying them, and have even been motivated to propagate wild and indigenous trees on their farms.
The following websites provide additional information:
-Information on the British NGO, FARM Africa’s, Maendeleo Agricultural Technology Fund, which provided the grant to develop fruit processing equipment for the conservation groups in Tabaro:
http://www.farmafrica.org.uk/programme.cfm?programmeid=23&context=region®ionID=5
-Research paper that provides an overview of the management of Tanzania’s Miombo woodlands over the years, including a description of economic factors that have encouraged different uses:
http://www.metla.fi/julkaisut/workingpapers/2007/mwp050-02.pdf
You may also wish to review the following scripts on two issues raised by this story – the use of fruit and nuts from indigenous and wild trees, and the processing and preservation of fruit:
-“Rural women process and sell shea butter” (Package 82, Script 8, November 2007)
-“Villagers in Malawi discuss the role of trees in their community” (Package 76, Script 7, October 2005)
-“Let’s preserve our fruit and vegetables! ” (Package 81, Script 9, August 2007)
-“Low-cost food processing: Preserving foods as jams or sauces ” (Package 66, Script 4, March 2003)
Finally, you may be interested in producing a similar news story about a group in your area by researching the following questions. (If there are no groups in your area that harvest products from trees, you may wish to investigate the harvesting of other wild products, or the processing of other foods by cooperatives.):
-Are there groups or individuals in your area that harvest fruit, nuts, or other useful products from wild and indigenous trees?
-How are the products used in the home (and if the products are food, what role do they play in family nutrition)?
-Does the group sell the products to others in their community or beyond? Do the products play a large part in their income, or are they considered supplementary to other crops?
-What role does the group play is conserving the indigenous and wild trees?
