Growing Indigenous food trees in East Africa fights malnutrition and biodiversity loss
When the sugary-sweet masuku plum is in season in Malawi, locals go wild over it. “They will eat it while traveling, in the bath, on the streets … they just eat,” said Richard Swirah, an agroecologist with the Malawi chapter of the organization WeForest. Swirah has seen firsthand that native fruits like the masuku (Uapaca […]
In East Africa, the integration of native food trees into landscape restoration projects is gaining momentum as a means to combat malnutrition and biodiversity loss. Richard Swirah, an agroecologist with the Malawi chapter of WeForest, has observed firsthand the high demand for native fruits like the masuku plum (Uapaca kirkiana) in local markets, despite their scarcity due to rampant deforestation.
To address this issue, agroforestry workshops were organized in 2023 by University of Copenhagen postdoctoral fellow Emilie Vansant, which brought together 40 experts to discuss the potential of Indigenous food trees in restoration efforts. These workshops identified key challenges in incorporating Indigenous food trees into tree-planting initiatives, which typically focus on fast-growing, non-native timber species.
The findings from these workshops were recently published in a paper highlighting the importance of integrating these native tree species into restoration projects to promote both malnutrition alleviation and biodiversity preservation in East Africa.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
