Allanblackia - A New Link Between Rural Poverty Reduction and Forest Conservation

from All Africa

Public Agenda (Accra)

By Ama Kudom-Agyemang

Thanks to the NOVELLA Africa Project, the Allanblackia plant has now gained the prominence it deserves, as an economic tree with great potential to reduce poverty, particularly in rural communities where it occurs.

It is one of the wild plant species, from whose seeds, oil is extracted by local communities for various purposes such as producing local soap and for cooking. But in the case of the latter, other nut oil (particularly palm kernel oil) is mixed with it to make it more acceptable. It used to be un-popular among local communities because of the perception that the oil was inferior in quality to other locally found fat producing crops.

The good news is that oil from the species may be used as a substitute for palm oil to produce commercial products such as margarine and soaps. Research conducted by Unilever indicates that Allanblackia oil has a higher melting point and congeals easily at room temperature. Its special fatty acid composition (of roughly 60% stearic and 35% oleic acids) gives it unique physical and nutritional properties, and a great potential for use in manufacturing novel products.

The Allanblackia is a typical tropical rain forest belt tree species, most often found occurring in the same areas where cocoa thrives. Thus, Allanblackia is commonly found in the Western, Central, Eastern and Ashanti regions, and possibly in parts of the Brong-Ahafo.

In 2002, the Novella Initiative was born by four core partners namely Unilever, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and the World Agro-forestry Centre (ICRAF). The aim was to purposely improve the sustainable development of the Allanblackia plant through the implementation of the NOVELLA Africa Project in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.

The main target and beneficiary groups of the project were the rural poor communities, who collected and sold Allanblackia seeds for processing into oil. Other beneficiaries at the local levels included small scale private sector companies, haulage contractors, nurserymen, input suppliers and millers. Thus right from its onset, the project identified various employment avenues for local people that were not too capital intensive and rather required diligence on one hand and a team work spirit on the other.

It had a national focus, which was to develop a new export commodity which will add further value to the country's national resources, reduce poverty and ensure sustainable forest management.

The global aim of the NOVELLA Africa Project was to ensure that supply of edible oil or edible oil based products was from sustainable sources and that it would help conserve the tropical forests of Africa. The trust was to address concerns raised by international consumers about the likely environmental and socio-economic impacts of such a project.

The main concern for the environmentalists was that the project did not in any way alter the balance in nature, in view of the magnitude of the collection of seeds involved. Even though the seeds of Allanblackia are not suitable for human consumption, they form part of major stable foods of some animals in the wild, which in turn form a vital part of the bush meat chain.

Another unique Public Private Partnership was formed in Ghana to assist and facilitate the implementation of the project. Members were the IUCN, Unilever, the International Tree Seed Centre (ITSC), ICRAF, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), SNV and Novel Ghana.

The primary goal of this particular partnership was to ensure the success of the novelty project from seed collection by local communities through processing to marketing, by investigating and promoting aspects related to its social acceptability, environmental sustainability and financial viability. Its ultimate objective was to secure the commercial viability of the extraction and uses of the Allanblackia fruit.

Through the partnership, the "Allanblackia: Standard Setting and Sustainable Supply Chain Management Project," was also initiated with the IUCN as the main implementer through its local partners in Ghana including the USAID funded Technoserve, FORIG and the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA). Funding was provided by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) of Switzerland.

In an interview, the IUCN Co-ordinator for the project, Mr. Samuel Kofi Nyame, explained that "it was launched in March 2005 to compliment the efforts of the Novella Project." He said the main goals of the project, which will officially end in June 2008, were to develop guidelines to direct activities in all parts of the Allanblackia supply chain, to ensure that the supply chain is managed in a sustainable way, and t ascertain that local actors in Ghana have the capacity to ntually take over the supply chain.

According to Mr. Nyame "initial activities essentially investigated the socio-economic, ecological and species related impacts of the commercialization of Allanblackia." He said this was to enable them put in place measures that will ensure sustainable harvesting as well as the equitable sharing of benefits among stakeholders.

Asked if environmental concerns have been well catered for in the implementation process, Mr. Nyame, who is also a conservation expert said one activity being implemented under the project, is "Forest Landscape Restoration." He stressed that "Allanblackia provides a unique opportunity to use a native tree species with environmental and economic benefits to restore degraded forest landscapes in Ghana."

Mr. Nyame recalled that Ghana like many tropical countries, experienced a period of exotic species plantations resulting in negative consequences for local biodiversity and livelihoods. He was optimistic that the use of the Allanblackia tree in the "Forest Landscape Restoration Project will yield positive environmental and socio-economic results.

The thick and hard bark of the Allanblackia tree makes it relatively resistant against forest fires. The species is consequently valued by communities in the semi-deciduous forest landscapes for its capacity to reduce the risk of fires. Also, Allanblackia casts only a minimal shade with its narrow crown and is relatively difficult to eliminate as it sprouts easily. Smallholder involvement in Allanblackia planting can help enhance the integrity of forest landscapes even as incorporating the species into farming systems will contribute to improved landscape connectivity.

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