Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) was domesticated as a fruit crop by the first Amazonians in traditional Neotropical agroforestry systems, but research and development (R&D) to date has not transformed its fruit into a modern success story. The fruit is really a tree ‘potato,’ competing with traditional starches rather than with succulent fruits. R&D efforts have focused more on production than on product transformation, commercialization and the consumer, thus failing to fill gaps in the production-to-consumption chain. Consumer demands are only now getting more consideration, and clear identification of the smallholder farmer as the R&D client is not yet generalized. Too many, often large germplasm collections have biased R&D programs away from smallholder farmers and did not pursue the quality and uniformity that consumers want. The general lessons learnt from 25 years of R&D efforts on peach palm that should guide the development of other indigenous agroforestry fruit tree species are: 1) identify market demands, whether subsistence or market-oriented; 2) identify clients and consumers, and their perceptions of the product; 3) work on food and nutritional security aspects of the species and let entrepreneurs be attracted, rather than vice versa; 4) take up species improvement in a moderately sized effort, using a participatory approach tightly focused on clients’ demands; and 5) reappraise the priorities from time to time.
Tag: bactris gasipaes
Prioritization of tree species for agroforestry systems in the lowland Amazon forests of Peru
An analysis was made of information provided by farmers about products and services of tree species, and the preferred tree species for agroforestry systems in the Yurimaguas, Pucallpa and Iquitos areas of Peru. The methodology of the study was based on a process developed by the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR), with modifications to adapt it to the study area. Farmers selected 58 species in Yurimaguas, 62 in Pucallpa and 100 in Iquitos; the selections included 41 plant families. Considering the number of species preferred by farmers and the number of people surveyed, farmers in the Yurimaguas area appeared to have greater knowledge about trees than farmers in the other 2 areas. Some 23 priory species in 17 families were selected for the development of agroforestry systems for this tropical humid lowland zone. The priority products of these 23 species are wood, energy and food. The highest-priority species for genetic improvement research for agroforestry systems are Bactris gasipaes, Cedrelinga catenaeformis, Inga edulis, Calycophyllum spruceanum and Guazuma crinita.
Agroforestry: a decade of development (ICRAF’s tenth anniversary 1977-1987)
Throughout the world, at one period or another in its history, it has been the practice to cultivate tree species and agricultural crops in intimate combination. The examples are numerous. It was the general custom in Europe, at least until the Middle Ages, to clear-fell derelict forest, burn the slash, cultivate food crops for varying periods on the cleared areas, and plant or sow tree species before, along with, or after the sowing of the agricultural crop. This “farming system” is, of course, no longer popular in Europe. But it was still widely followed in Finland up to the end of the last century, and was being practised in a few areas in Germany as late as the 1920s (King, 1968). In tropical America, many societies have traditionally simulated forest conditions in their farms in order to obtain the beneficial effects of forest structures. Farmers in Central America, for example, have long imitated the structure and species diversity of tropical forests by planting a variety of crops with different growth habits. Plots of no more than one-tenth of a hectare contained, on average, two dozen different species of plants each with a different form, together corresponding to the layered configuration of mixed tropical forests: coconut or papaya with a lower layer of bananas or citrus, a shrub layer of coffee or cacao, tall and low annuals such as maize, and finally a spreading ground cover of plants such as squash (Wilken, 1977).
The effect of cattle grazing on soil physical and chemical properties in a silvopastoral system in the Peruvian Amazon
In a six-year-old peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) plantation, centrosema (Centrosema macrocarpum), a leguminous forage plant, was established as a cover crop which was eventually grazed. This experiment was designed to monitor probable changes in soil physical and chemical properties and measure peach palm fruit production and live-weight gain of cattle grazing this silvopastoral system. The experiment was installed on land that was previously cleared by a D7 bulldozer having a straight blade that mixed the thin layer of topsoil with the acid subsoil (20–40 cm) and severely compacted the soil. The results demonstrated that the centrosema cover crop reduced soil bulk density, increased water infiltration rates and reduced mechanical resistance. In general soil physical properties were improved with the use of Centrosema as forage and cover crop. Soil acidity and aluminum saturation decreased considerably, while potassium concentrations increased. Calcium and magnesium concentrations decreased over time as these minerals were stored in the pasture biomass, translocated to fresh peach palm fruits and/or exported to animals. A strong competition for nutrients was observed between the peach palm plants and Centrosema. The low production of peach palm fruits was in response to mechanized land clearing during initial establishment of the plantation, and also probably due to deficits of N, P, K, Ca and Mg in the soil instead of being a consequence to the presence of cattle. The average increase in live-weight gains of the cattle was at a rate of 445 g/animal/day during the four-years of the study. Such an increase is substantially greater than those registered in the area under traditional grazing systems used in the region.