Domestication of some indigenous fruit trees: the South African experience | The domestication and commercialisation of indigenous fruit trees in the SADC region
2000
Ngcobo, N. | Shumba, E. M. | Lusepani, E.
Woody ecosystems are under serious threat and innovative ways are needed to ensure their sustainable conservation, development and utilisation. Fruit species are not the most endangered trees in terms of destructive harvesting. However, increasing demand for arable land, together with the increasing cutting for wood and medicinal use is leading to a significant decline in the number of fruit trees. This is problematic because in many rural households, people's diets are to a large extent dependant on access to wild fruits. Furthermore, most rural women derive a large part of their income from selling indigenous fruits and fruit products. Indigenous fruit trees are good sources of carbohydrates, calcium, magnesium and potassium. Although there is growing understanding of the importance of wild fruits and other non-timber forest products, little is known about their importance in sustaining households during periods of climatic, nutritional and financial stress(Packham, 1993). To rural dwellers, forests and cultivated trees are sources of food in the form of fruits, nuts, berries, leaves, honey, gum, and fungi. The quantities of forest foods in consumed may nto be great in compariosn to the main food staples, but they often form an essential part of the otherwise nutritionally poor diets. Mango trees were once growing in the wild, until someone came up with the idea of growing trees that produced larger and tastier fruits and the mango tree was brought in from the forest, cultivated on agricultural land and became domesticated. In recent years, tastes around the world for exotic flavours and fruit have been growing rapidly along with an emerging 'world culture' in this ' global village' ( Simon, 1997)
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