Chaired by Roger Leakey, the symposium featured three presentations touching on various aspects of tree domestication in West and Central Africa, Latin America and Southern Africa. One of the key messages was that tree domestication can significantly increase the incomes of smallholder farmers and rural dwellers. It can also provide considerable environmental benefits.
Download the full report for Symposium 2: Domestication of agroforestry tree crops
Found in translation?
At the symposium on tree domestication, the speakers frequently talked of impact in terms of the income earned by farmers, for example from the sale of seeds, seedlings and fruit. Jonathan Cornelius described a project in Brazil which earns a group of farmers $2,500 a year. Zac Tchoundjeu told us about a farmers’ group in Cameroon which will earn $10,000 this year from seedling sales. "It might not sound a lot to you," he said, "but this is a lot for an African village."
Fair enough. But what exactly does a lot mean? Let's say the Cameroonian farmers earn $100 a year each from nursery sales. What can they buy with that? Enough zinc sheets to re-roof a house? A year of school fees for two children? A cow? Perhaps it's time we began to translate dollars into consumer goods - then we’d really understand the impact of agroforestry projects.