INTERGRATED DOMESTICATION STRATEGIES FOR ALLANBLACKIA – THE GHANAIAN EXPERIENCE

1. INTERGRATED DOMESTICATION STRATEGIES FOR ALLANBLACKIA – THE GHANAIAN EXPERIENCE SII TRAINING WORKSHOP ON ALLANBLACKIA DOMESTICATION 23-27 OCTOBER 2006 ICRAF, NAIROBI, KENYA By D. A. Ofori FORIG/ICRAF FORIG, UST Box 63, Kumasi, Ghana. Email dofori@forig.org

2. Introduction • Domestication of Allanblackia • Management of trees to increase their benefits to mankind

3. Main components of AB domestication • Sensitization and encouragement of farmers to participate in AB domestication • Range-wide germplasm collection, development of propagation methods and gene conservation • Ecology, abundance and sustainable harvesting • Integration of AB in farming systems and Agroforestry development • Facilitate development of marketing networks and supply chain • Contribute to poverty alleviation in the rural areas

4. Partnerships • Bring together stakeholders that havedifferent interests and organisational capacities • Partners are to develop effective policy frameworks to support and address the ‘main components listed’ through involvement of all stakeholders with special emphasis on small scale farmers

5. Who are involved in AB domestication in Ghana? • UNILIVER • Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG) • ICRAF • International Tree seed Centre (ITSC) • Twifo Oil Palm Plantation (TOPP) • SNV • IUCN • FARMERS • Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) • Others

6. Farmers • Allanblackia domestication is being executed as farmer-driven and market-led process

7. Farmers’ perspectives Farmers will be willing to plant Allanblackia provided there will be; • Ready market • Attractive price comparable to cocoa and cola. • Early bearing varieties • Methods of propagation known

8. ICRAF/ FORIG • Development of propagation techniques • Establishment of gene banks • Development of agroforestry systems

9. FORIG/ICRAF Range-wide collections, development of propagation methods and ex-situ gene conservation FORIG’s research nursery

10. ITSC and TOPP • Involved in propagation • Production of seedlings • Distribution to planting sites

11. ITSC nursery, Offinso, 600,000 seeds

12. IUCN • Best practices for biodiversity conservation • Biological and social baselines • Sustainable wild harvesting • Incorporation of AB into farming systems • Community education and sensitization

13. FORIG/IUCN • Ecological studies to establish the abundance and a baseline for sustainable harvesting • Establish data base on the phenology (flowering and fruiting)

14. SNV • Develop investment opportunity to create additional income at producer level • Market chain development • Facilitation of stakeholder collaboration e.g farmer groups

15. UNILIVER • Novella Project Manager • Coordinate the AB domestication programme in Ghana • Facilitate development of marketing networks and supply chain

16. CRIG • Now getting involved with cocoa agroforestry with Allanblackia sp.

17. Difficulties in management • Lack of proper coordination among partners • Difficulty to come out with national workplan or sound action plan for the AB project • Farmers skepticism on sustainability of AB project • Realistic funding mechanisms

18. Lessons learnt • It is important to improve our understanding of how partnerships work, and how they can be made to lead to more effective, efficient, equitable and legitimate outcomes • Development of good partnerships and sharing of resources, will move AB domestication ahead

19. National strategy for AB domestication • There should be greater coordination among AB stakeholders • Mechanism for sharing resources • Mechanism for information sharing • Organization of farmer groups to participate in the Allanblackia domestication programme

20. National strategy for AB domestication • Training workshops on AB domestication • Get Cocoa Research Institutes actively involved for cocoa-AB agroforestry development

21. Concluding remarks Govt agencies NGO’s Private sectors AB project Farmers Pull strings together for Greater success

22. 2011 2009 2006 LONG LIVE ALLANBLACKIA PROJECT

23. Thank you for your attention