Toward Sustainable Supply of Allanblackia Planting Materials: An Assessment of the Rural Resource Centre Concept in Ghana

2014

English

The potential market demand for Allanblackia (AB) oil is estimated at over 100,000 tons/year with the potential to exceed 200,000 tonnes a year. Relying on wild fruit harvesting has proven inadequate thereby prompting domestication of AB in endemic countries. World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and its partners from the public and private sectors have been domesticating the species since 2002 using Rural Resource Centre (RRC) concept, a participatory tree domestication approach. RRCs serve as diffusion hubs for new technologies, knowledge, skills and distribution of good quality germplasm to support domestication of AB. In Ghana, RRCs for cultivation of AB were established in 2008 in two political districts namely, New Edubiase and Wassa Akropong - all in the Western region. About 200 farmers were trained at the RRCs on Allanblackia propagation and cultivation while it is estimated that over 10,000 planting stocks were also produced and distributed to farmers for planting. After six years of piloting the RRC model, it is necessary to assess the performance of the model in meeting its intended objectives. Therefore, this study is focused on assessing the performance of RRCs, identify challenges encountered in the dissemination of good quality planting stocks and propose recommendations to improving the supply efficiency of AB planting materials.

Dumenu, W. K.; Ofori, D. A.; Jamnadass, R.