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Food banks and technology parks
Indigenous fruit and vegetable trees offer options for enhancing household nutrition
By Catherine Ky-Dembele and Ake Mamo
The indigenous fruit and vegetable trees of Mali in the Drylands of the West African Sahel grow in varied but
well adapted environments. The highly diverse indigenous trees are year-round sources of food and nutrition
security. Their tolerance against climate extremes and disasters also enhances Mali’s resilience against Climate
Change.
Indigenous tree based fruits and vegetables are responsible for much of the country’s nutrition security; but
paradoxically, it is areas such as the fertile region of Sikasso in the south which suffer most from widespread
child malnutrition. In Sikasso, the government faces a major public health problem where stunting prevalence
(45 – 47%) of children under-five is the highest in Mali.
Research undertaken by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) found that the inadequate availability of good
quality plant material and limitations in harvesting, processing and conservation technologies was one of the
reasons behind the lack of adoption and cultivation of indigenous fruit and vegetable trees in the area.
Heeding further recommendations to promote fruit and vegetable tree garden establishment at household
level, especially for children and women in Sikasso Region, ICRAF in 2013 undertook research on superior
accessions and grafting of 5 priority tree species including baobab (Adansonia digitata), jujube (Ziziphus
mauritiana), moringa (Moringa oleifera), tamarind (Tamarindus indica), and shea (Vitellaria paradoxa).
Mapped to the CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems (known as Dryland Systems)and through the USAID
Africa RISING project, one of the outcomes of the research is currently the launch of leafy tree vegetable
gardens known as food banks in 10 villages across Sikasso.
The first of its kind, the concept of foodbanks is to allow farmers to have a ready source of fresh, rich nutrient
sources with locally consumed tree leaves such as baobab and moringa. It is still work in progress but already in
2015, 17 farmers including 6 women have taken up the technology partly for their own consumption and partly
in order to be able to avail a fresh supply to the market during the dry season.
“In nature the Baobab leaf is available for only a very short time”, says Brehima Kone, Research Assistant at the
World Agroforestry Centre based in Samanko, Mali. “But now with the science of species selection and
domestication, it can be available fresh all year round. The moringa is also a veritable health treasure and with
the food bank we get both of them to provide a fuller range of micronutrients”.
Baobab fruits have one of the highest vitamin C contents in the world but the leaves are an extremely valuable
source of proteins, vitamins A and B, as well as a range of essential minerals. Moringa is consumed as a spinach
equivalent but the leaves are far superior providing protein, vitamins A, B and C and minerals such as calcium
and iron. They are also an excellent source of sulphur-containing amino acids methionine and cystine, which are
often not available.
The baobab leaf is already widely consumed as a leafy green vegetable, typically as a sauce. Baobab fruits
mature in the dry season, but the leaves are available for only the short rainy season. As the sauce is a key
dietary staple, the leaves are then dried and kept for the long dry season but this results in some micronutrient
loss.
“What makes the food bank exceptional is that we’ve been able to integrate it with similar food security
technologies from other centres and also partner with a range of development organisations” says Antoine
Kalinganire, ICRAF West Africa Sahel and Dry Savannas Flagship Coordinator. “Both the baobab and moringa are
extremely fast growing trees and now with superior accessions and reductions in growth time with graftings,
they can provide an abundant supply of leaves within a year. The current spacing type (0.3m x 0.3m with 72
plants per plot), (0.5m x 0.5m with 45 plants per plot) and 1m x 1m with 15 plants per plot have so far been used
to install 11.25 m2 plots (4.5m x 2.5m) in the districts of Koutiala and Bougouni in Sikasso”.
Known as a technology park, tree leaf vegetable banks are inter-planted together with other ordinary vegetables
as well as grains which are typically irrigated in the region. Activities incorporate a wide range of different
technologies from other centers such as the World Vegetable Centre (AVRDC ), the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and others, in order to integrate for the most efficient and
maximum usage by farmers.
As a community based experiment, the technology parks aim to provide hands on training to farmers and
students, facilitate knowledge flow not only from science to farmers but also from farmers to science, and
farmers to farmers. It also helps research and development organizations understand the dynamics behind
farmer’s preferences for technologies in the region.
Each technology park is expected to increase the uptake of improved technologies to nearly 380 farmers in each
district at the end of the 2016 growing season. With an easily available source of nutrients and vitamins - often
lacking in staple foods – this will contribute to addressing the prevailing micro-nutrient deficiencies known as
hidden hunger - in Sikasso and the West African Sahel at large.
----The CGIAR Research Program on Dryland Systems conducts four (4) major research-in-development projects in
the West African Sahel and Dry Savannas region of which is the Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for
the Next Generation (Africa RISING).
The Africa RISING project, led by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), comprises three
research for development implemented in West, East and Southern Africa and supported by the United States
Agency for International Development as part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative.
For more information please contact Antoine Kalinganire, West Africa Sahel and Dry Savannas Flagship
Coordinator at [email protected]
Related blogs:
http://africa-rising.net/2015/07/04/ip-parks-mali/