Growing Indigenous food trees in East Africa fights malnutrition and biodiversity loss

Agroecologists and researchers in Malawi and beyond are promoting native food trees like the masuku plum, African custard-apple, and marula as a way to fight both chronic malnutrition and biodiversity loss from deforestation. University of Copenhagen researcher Emilie Vansant's workshops with 40 practitioners found these trees are underused in landscape restoration, which typically favors fast-growing non-native timber.

Vansant's earlier doctoral research found women eating fruit from these trees had higher levels of folate, zinc, and vitamin A, prompting her team to produce an illustrated planting guide since farmers had lacked resources beyond a 1993 FAO manual. Practitioners identified persistent obstacles: fragile seeds, narrow growing windows, and thin commercial markets that make slower-growing native trees a harder sell than commercial timber.

Outside experts note that market solutions need care, pointing to community-run baobab processing projects in Ghana as a model where profits stay local rather than being captured by outside processors.

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