Questions
and Answers on AB Domestication
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1. Q. Why
AB domestication or Planting
A. AB
domestication means the raising of selected AB plant
seedlings and planting them on existing farmlands, degraded
areas, forest areas and other available spaces.
The major buyer of AB seeds has the capacity to buy
2000 tons of collected AB seeds from farmers per season
and this can only be achieved if AB is domesticated
or planted to increase the number of AB trees available.
Current volume achieved through wild collection is about
110 tons which is about five percent of total volume
required.
When Allanblackia is planted on farmers’ field,
farmers can harvest without walking long distances to
collect the seeds.
2. Q. What
are some of the problems or challenges to domesticate
or plant AB
A. .It
is difficult to differentiate between female and male
AB plants during their early stages of development
-It takes AB trees about 10 years to bear fruits if
it is not grafted or budded
-AB seeds take between 10 and 18 months to germinate
3. Q. What
has been done to overcome these challenges
A The
project has done a lot of consultations through Research
Institutes such as International Tree Seed Centre (ITSC),
Kenya and Forest Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG)
to address some of these challenges.
Currently there are 60,000 AB seedlings available for
field planting in 2007 and 150,000 seedlings are expected
to be produced by 2008.
What has been achieved to reduce fruit bearing period
of AB tree is that the seedlings produced would be grafted
or budded and the grafted or budded plant will start
bearing fruits in a shorter period of time estimated
at 4 years.
Through this method males and females AB seedlings can
also be produced
4. Q.
How will farmers get AB seedlings to plant on their
farms
A.
The project will raise AB seedlings for farmers to
plant on their farms
5. Q.
Where will farmers get some of the seedlings to plant
and when is planting starting
A. Field
Planting will start in early 2007.The project is establishing
community nurseries at Appeasuman (near Bogoso), Afosu,
Sureso (near Asankragua), New Edubiase, Offinso (near
Kumasi) and Twifo Praso where farmers can have access
training on how to plant to AB seedlings. Seedlings
will also be supplied to farmers from these sites.
6 Q. Will
large-scale AB Plantations be established?
A The Project will support interested farmers to integrate
AB trees on their farms. The project will not support
farmers clearing primary forest to plant AB trees
but rather encourage farmers to plant AB trees in
degraded land areas, secondary forest areas, border
planting etc.
7 Q.
Will AB integration with cocoa have any effect on
cocoa yield?
A. No.
The project is in consultation with Cocoa Research
Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to research into this area.
So far there is no indication that AB trees have an
adverse effect on cocoa yield. This has also been
confirmed by numerous cocoa farmers who have AB trees
on their cocoa farms.
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