Festus K Akinnifesi

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy (FAO) · ...

Indigenous fruits have the potential to address food security in Africa through the provision of nutrition and maintenance of sustainable livelihoods. Fruit trees are not only an important food source but also provide valuable vitamins, fats, sugar, protein and fibres that human bodies require. Whereas the contribution of Indigenous Fruit Trees (IF...

The Chapter provides the definition and concept of multifunctional landscapes in the African context. It also highlights the merits of the different landscape approaches recognizing that no single one can address the needs of all existing African landscapes. Ultimately, the people-centred approach to multifunctional landscape management has the mer...

There is an increased momentum in global efforts to expand tree planting through afforestation, reforestation, landscape restoration and agroforestry initiatives in response to climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, food and nutrition insecurity challenges. The success of these initiatives strongly depends on the availability and acce...

While agriculture is one of the greatest causes of deforestation and the associated biodiversity loss in Africa, smallholder agriculture also holds the key to conservation of the remaining biodiversity, increasing tree cover and reducing greenhouse emissions through tree planting activities. However, tree planting by smallholders and traditional ag...

Indigenous fruit trees are in abundance as wild in the forests of Africa and play very significant role in food, nutrition, income and livelihood security of millions of people, especially the poor in Africa. Many species have been identified for their potential in meeting the nutritional requirement, value addition, income generation and biodivers...

Agroforestry systems dot agricultural landscapes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where they provide food, fuelwood, fibre, fodder and other products that are used at home or sold for income. Agroforestry also provides ecosystem services that are important and critical for improved livelihoods. By combining trees and/or shrubs with crops and/or livesto...

The 10-Point Action Plan to catalyse a Circular Bioeconomy of Wellbeing is a call for collective and integrated action to global leaders, investors, companies, scientists, governments, non- governmental and intergovernmental organisations, funding agencies and society at large to put the world on a sustainable path.

Africa faces intricate challenges including severe shortage of food, fuelwood and fodder primarily due to increasing human and livestock population and subsistence agriculture. Deforestation, declining soil fertility and soil erosion are the crucial indicators of land degradation. Most of the dry regions experience food shortage due to low crop yie...

Over the last decades, considerable attention has been paid to the identification and introduction of suitable tree species in agro-ecosystems to simultaneously address soil degradation, food insecurity and climate change impacts. Gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) has many desirable characteristics as an agroforestry tree species, and its performance...

In the last 50 years, the biosphere, upon which humanity depends, has been altered to an unparalleled degree. The current economic model relying on fossil resources and addicted to “growth at all costs” is putting at risk not only life on our planet, but also the world’s economy. The need to react to the unprecedented COVID-19 crisis is a unique o...

Several studies assessing the effect of leguminous tree biomass such as Gliricidia sepium and Tephrosia vogelii on maize yield have been undertaken. There has been limited knowledge on the efficacy of leguminous tree biomass on maize yield when grown after a crop with a high nitrogen (N) demand. One such crop is cotton. The current study was undert...

By integrating a farmer-driven, on-farm approach with laboratory-based genetics research, agroforestry tree domestication is maximizing the benefits from the development of clonal cultivars, while minimizing the risks. In developing this strategy, special consideration is given to the development of practical techniques based on the relevant use of...

Fertilizer trees, the nitrogen-fixing legumes, such as gliricidia (Gliricidia sepium) and tephrosia (Tephrosia spp.) have been used to improve soil fertility for higher crop yields in nitrogen deficient soils. Many studies have focused on how these fertilizer trees improve maize yield, but there has been a dearth of information on the effect of fer...

Agroforestry systems, containing mixtures of trees and crops, are often promoted because the net effect of interactions between woody and herbaceous components is thought to be positive if evaluated over the long term. From a modelling perspective, agroforestry has received much less attention than monocultures. However, for the potential of agrofo...

In the past two decades, a growing body of work on research stations and farmers' fields in Southern Africa has provided evidence that fertilizer trees can improve the productivity of land, increase crop yields and contribute towards climate change mitigation and adaptation. In a recent issue of Experimental Agriculture, Coe et al . (2016) publishe...

More than 420 research papers, involving more than 50 tree species, form the literature on agroforestry tree domestication since the 1992 conference that initiated the global programme. In the fi rst decade, the global effort was strongly led by scientists working in humid West Africa; it was then expanded to the rest of Africa in the second decade...

Estimation of aboveground tree biomass and carbon in mixed maize/tree parklands by nondestructive means requires the development of allometric equations from readily measurable variables such as diameter at breast height and tree height. Equations of this type have not been well developed for Faidherbia albida in eastern and southern Africa. In thi...

Customary practices such as bush fires and the browsing by livestock, and the absence of land property rights are important institutional constraints to effective up-scaling of natural resource management (NRM) including agroforestry technologies in southern Africa. Through collective action by communities in eastern Zambia, and supported by-laws e...

Sclerocarya birrea (A. Rich.) Hochst. (marula) is one of the most important indigenous fruit tree species in southern Africa, where it plays a significant role in the diet, tradition and culture of many indigenous people. The species has in the past decade been the subject of domestication to enhance its wider scale cultivation and conservation to...

This study integrates ecological knowledge and scientific principles in selecting superior Uapaca kirkiana phenotypes in Malawi and Zambia through focus-group discussions. Fruit collectors and roadside marketers provided locations of superior phenotypes (fruit load, size, and sweetness). About 73% of phenotypes were on cultivated land in Zambia, 66...

Fertilizer trees are defined as nitrogen-fixing woody perennials used for soil fertility improvement in arable lands and pastures. Although such trees have played a significant role in traditional and improved crop and livestock production systems, their contributions have not received adequate attention in the debate on food security. This article...

Baobab (Adansonia digitata L.) trees have a wide variety of subsistence and economic values across sub-Saharan Africa. Knowledge of the genetic variation within and between the species is essential for management and designing domestication, improvement and conservation strategies. Fifty-nine half-sib families were evaluated in the nursery to deter...

Growing maize (Zea mays L.) in association with legume trees in agroforestry arrangements has been shown to increase yields in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa; however, the stability of crop yields has not been critically analyzed in the various cropping systems that integrate leguminous trees. The objective of this analysis was to compare yield s...

Background/Question/Methods In much of southern Africa, lack of access to chemical fertilizers makes crop production dependent on biological nitrogen sources. One promising source is leguminous trees such as Tephrosia candida and Gliricidia sepium, which can be intercropped with maize and incorporated as green manure. However, these species’ resi...

Limited multi-location testing has been undertaken in Gliricidia sepium and other agroforestry species compared to field crops and plantation forest tree species. Consequently, information on the stability of the various provenances (accessions) of this species is very limited, reducing the efficiency of germplasm deployment. In this study, genotyp...

More than 420 research papers, involving more than 50 tree species, form the literature on agroforestry tree domestication since the 1992 conference that initiated the global programme. In the first decade, the global effort was strongly led by scientists working in humid West Africa; it was then expanded to the rest of Africa in the second decade,...

Adansonia digitata L. (Baobab) is widely distributed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa stretching from Senegal to Sudan, and from Ethiopia to Natal. Information of phenotypic and genetic variation is a prerequisite for the domestication and improvement of baobab fruits from the wild. A study was done to determine within and between provenance variabili...

Baobab (Adansonia digitata L) belonging to Bombacaceae family, is one of the most widely used indigenous priority tree species in sub-Saharan Africa, valued in the cosmetic industry for its seed oil, and powdery fruit pulp for juice making. Baobab has high potential for domestication in southern Africa, therefore understanding its genetic diversity...

J.L. (2009). First and second generation research efforts on commoditising indigenous fruit tree crops in southern Africa. Acta Hort. 806:637-646.

Sclerocarya birrea (marula) is a highly valued fruit tree in southern Africa because of its products which have gained both regional and international markets. However, its fruits have been harvested from the wild with a few provenances being managed on farmland. Grafted marula trees have shown wide variations in scion and rootstock growth (for exa...

Low leaf biomass yields coupled with small land sizes are some of the major constraints faced by smallholder farmers that grow protein-rich fodder trees and shrubs. Given these challenges, availability of highly productive seed sources would be important to enable farmers to produce leaf fodder in sufficient quantities. 14 accessions of Acacia angu...

The production of paprika (Capsicum annum L.) under small-scale farm conditions in southern Africa is constrained by low soil fertility and lack of appropriate cultivars. The objective of this study was to determine the growth responses and fruit yields of six cultivars of paprika to organic and inorganic nutrient sources. The study was conducted i...

A sustainable agroforestry tree germplasm supply system is vital to resource-constrained smallholder farmers who depend on agroforestry to improve the productivity of their farm enterprises. Successful adoption of agroforestry hinges on the development of a sustainable agroforestry tree germplasm supply system. This paper reviews the agroforestry t...

The lack of high quality agroforestry tree germplasm has long been recognized as one of the major challenges to widespread adoption of agroforestry in Southern Africa. Productivity levels realized in operational scale plantings are far less than those demonstrated in research and this has been partly blamed on the use of germplasm of unknown qualit...

The cultivation of indigenous and exotic fruits for sub-Saharan Africa's domestic markets can bring increased revenues for smallholders and improve the diets of local consumers. There are, however, many bottlenecks which need to be addressed so that wider benefits from such activities are realised. Here, we describe key interventions being taken to...

Water availability is a major constraint to crop production in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where agriculture is predominantly rain-fed. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the nitrogen-fixing legume tree Leucaena (Leucaena leucocephala) and inorganic fertilizer on rain use efficiency (RUE), a robust measure of productivity and land degradati...

Adequate amount of water is critical to successful tree nursery operation among resource-constrained smallholder farmers in Africa. Two experiments were undertaken with the objectives of evaluating effects of water application rate and frequency on seedling growth and survival of Persea americana and Vangueria infausta. In experiment 1, water was a...

In response to the declining soil fertility in southern Africa and the negative effects that this leads to, such as food insecurity besides other developmental challenges, fertilizer tree systems (FTS) were developed as technological innovation to help smallholder farmers to build soil organic matter and fertility in a sustainable manner. In this p...

Low crop productivity is a general problem facing most farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These low yields are pronounced in grain legumes and are often associated with declining soil fertility and reduced N2-fixation due to biological and environmental factors. Unfortunately, the majority of African small farmers are now unable to afford...

Low crop productivity is a general problem facing most farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). These low yields are pronounced in grain legumes and are often associated with declining soil fertility and reduced N2-fixation due to biological and environmental factors. Unfortunately, the majority of African small farmers are now unable to afford...

While precautionary efforts are being made to minimize human health problems associated with agricultural pesticides, the continued oc-currence of occupational poisoning from these chemicals raises major concerns among stake-holders. Information gap on human health problems associated with pesticides poses major obstacles to making informed policy...

The concept of competition or complementarity between tree and crop roots for below ground resources have been a major debate in simultaneous systems. Root studies were conducted in three cropping systems, namely: sole maize, pigeon pea/maize intercropping and Gliricidia sepium (Gliricidia)/maize intercropping, with the objective of understanding t...

Fertilizer tree technologies such as intercropping, relay cropping, improved fallows and biomass transfer have been promoted as sustainable, low-input alternative or complimentary inputs to inorganic fertilizers in Malawi. However, research into the long term effects of their adoption on household food security and poverty reduction is limited. Thi...

Domestication of Uapaca kirkiana Müell. Arg is a high priority for improving rural livelihoods of smallholder farmers in southern Africa. Domestication efforts require knowledge of adaptive traits and intra-specific variation. Morphological traits and amplified fragment length polymorphic (AFLP) markers were used to assess genetic variation in twel...