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Final harvest for the 2021 From Tree to Fork campaign


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The From Tree to Fork campaign is wrapping up for the season, and it’s been a fruitful harvest so far. The 18 fruits and vegetables released up until now bring more visibility to the important contributions of tree foods to livelihoods, cultural traditions, food security, nutrition and more.

For example, did you know that Camu-camu (Myrciaria dubia) contains 30-60x more vitamin C than the same serving of oranges? Each fruit in the campaign collected trivia like this with engaging infographics and scientist-reviewed facts about some of the most unknown and underutilized fruits and vegetables from trees. Much of this information came from CIFOR-ICRAF databases including the Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database, the Tree Functional Attributes and Ecological Database and the AgroforesTree Database.

Launched earlier this year, From Tree to Fork is aligned with other important initiatives on the global agenda including the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV) — a time to raise awareness for how trees can help make food systems more sustainable and resilient worldwide. This year (2021) also marks the start of the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which has direct links to food trees and agroforestry because people are more likely to restore landscapes with trees that have multiple benefits for human health and well-being.

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A few of the scientists who worked on the campaign also shared their personal experiences with these valuable tree foods.

“As a huge lover of chocolate, I was delighted to discover that ‘chocolate’ could also be made out of a whole different species [Copoazu (Theobroma grandiflorum)!” said FTA scientist, Elisabeth Lagneaux. “Try it if you can.”

Michael Brady, a CIFOR principal scientist and leader of FTA’s Flagship 3, has a similarly positive experience associated with Sago, a starch made from the trunk of the Sago palm tree (Metroxylon sagu):

“I did my graduate research in Sumatra and met my wife there,” he said. “During that time, I have many happy memories of eating Pempek, a famous dish made by mixing Sago flour and fish that is eaten throughout the island.”

These colourful images and key messages are also featured as part of a virtual exhibit on FTA’s new Google Arts & Culture page. This display, along with seven other stories on the page, champion the importance of forests, trees and agroforestry to respond to environmental crises. Also, check out the recently released FTA Highlights Volume No. 5 on Food Security and Nutrition to learn more about the work scientists have done on tree foods over the last 10 years.

VIEW THE VIRTUAL EXHIBIT

READ THE HIGHLIGHTS VOL. 5

In 2021 we brought you 18 infographics and more than 50 eCards and key messages on particular tree foods. There are many more underutilized fruits and vegetables that the campaign was not able to cover this year, and we hope to bring you more in 2022. Here’s a taste of what we could serve you…

  1. Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes)
  2. Ungurahui (Oenocarpus bataua)
  3. Monkey orange (Strychnos cocculoids)
  4. Safou (Dacryodes edulis)
  5. Marula (Sclerocarya birrea)
  6. Kiawe (Prosopis pallida)
  7. Wild plumb (Ximenia americana)
  8. Shea (Vitellaria paradoxa)
  9. Cherimoya (Annona cherimola)
  10. Bengal quince (Aegle marmelos)
  11. Abiu (Pouteria caimito)

 

Enjoy your holidays and make sure you treat yourselves a different fruit every day!

 

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Launching “From Tree to Fork” – an FTA Campaign


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Did you know that the fruit from the Baobab tree (Adansonia digitata L.) can contain up to six times more vitamin C than the same serving size of oranges and twice as much calcium as milk? Or that tamarind fruits are rich in protein and antioxidants, containing 40 percent more protein than the same serving size of avocado?

Though often unstated, forests and trees are much more than greenhouse gas banks (GHG) and ecosystem service providers; they are some of the world’s most valuable food producers. Their fruits and vegetables provide essential nutrition, dietary diversity, medicine and sources of income to people everywhere. When sustainably managed in agroforestry systems, increasing evidence shows that food trees are also primary engines of sustainable agricultural transformation, limiting deforestation while enriching the soil and generating valuable crops and wood products.

Both the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV) and the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration make 2021 an especially relevant time to reflect on the essential role of tree foods for human health, nutrition and food security. Several FTA events this year have already spotlighted these benefits. For example, during an event that was co-hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization last February, FTA’s FP1 Leader, Ramni Jamnadass, presented on the challenges of conserving fruit tree species and sharing genetic resources to make food systems more resilient. The UN Food Systems Pre-Summit last month also featured sessions in which FTA scientists such as Fergus Sinclair, Amy Ickowitz and Stepha McMullin championed agroecology and food trees conservation.

In this context, the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) is launching “From Tree to Fork” – a communication campaign to raise awareness about some of the most unrecognized and underappreciated fruits and vegetables that come from trees.

With its captivating graphics and scientist-reviewed information, “From Tree to Fork” is aligned with the current global agenda to celebrate these benefits. Many of the tree foods compiled here supply key nutrients in local and indigenous diets around the world. Other parts of these trees including their leaves and bark are often used for medicine, carpentry, cultural traditions and in agroforestry systems where they can enhance soil fertility and improve crop survival rates. Together, the nutritional and livelihood functions of food-tree species contribute to community stability, income generation and dietary diversity.

New fruits and vegetables with colourful infographics to download will be released one-by-one over the rest of 2021 on a weekly basis, so stay tuned to never miss out on the updates. In the meantime, here are some quick facts to snack on!

  • The leaves of Jacote trees have been shown to exhibit anti-bacterial properties. A single 100 g edible portion of Jacote contains 63% of the potassium requirements for children aged 4-6 years old!
  • Rich in antioxidants and high in vitamin C, bitter beans are also enjoyed by hornbills, monkeys, squirrels, deer, elephants and wild pigs. The wood of the tree is used for pulp to manufacture paper and in carpentry.
  • The productivity life-time of a Palmyra Palm is over 100 years! The tree in India is said to have “800 uses” and it is considered a cultural symbol in many Asian countries.
  • The seeds of the African Breadfruit contain more protein than soybeans!

 

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Contribution of Forests, Trees and Agroforestry to Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition in a time of crisis


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Originally published on the A4NH website. This article is based on the FTA Session at GLF Bonn 2020.

All presentations and video from the session can be accessed here.

Forests, trees and agroforestry provide nutrient-dense foods such as fruits and nuts, that contribute to livelihoods and to the diversification of diets. They also provide ecosystem services — water regulation, soil fertility and conservation, pollination services, temperature regulation — all of which support sustainable and resilient food systems. The 2017 publication of the High Level Panel of Experts report “Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition” detailed these contributions, but more needs to be done to increase the visibility of the roles of trees in food security and nutrition. The COVID-19 global pandemic highlights the need for sustainable and resilient food systems more than ever.

The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) with its partners organized a session titled “Contribution of forests, trees and agroforestry to sustainable food security and nutrition in a time of crisis,” during the Global Landscape Forum (GLF) Bonn 2020 Digital Conference held from 3 to 5 June. The conference was attended by 5,000 people from 185 countries, and kick-started a global conversation on how to ‘build back better’ and transform food systems to protect human well-being and planetary health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Vincent Gitz, FTA Director, opened the session explaining that FTA hosted the session to share what forests, trees and agroforestry can bring to food security, nutrition, and the resilience of food systems.

Contribution of Forests, Trees and Agroforestry for Sustainable Food Security and Nutrition

Inge Brouwer, Assistant Professor in Human Nutrition and Health at Wageningen University & Research, who leads A4NH’s Food Systems for Healthier Diets research flagship, set the scene for the session by providing an overview of the state of nutrition and diets in today’s world. COVID-19 threatens the ability of people to prioritize healthy diets as it disrupts food systems in low- and middle-income countries due to changes to the food environment, economic impacts on consumers, and access issues related to supply chain disruptions. This will even be harder when they do not know what a healthy diet means. She pointed out that food based dietary guidelines help to define healthy diets in local contexts, and the global nutrition communities should support the translation of global recommendations into local contexts. This should include the promotion of a broader range of local foods which could contribute to healthier diets.

The presentations that followed provided examples of approaches to strengthen the use of local foods to improve the ability of the population to consume nutritious foods throughout the year, as well as in times of shocks such as COVID-19, where trade is restricted and access to market is limited. Stepha McMullin with World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) presented an approach used to make location-suitable recommendations for promoting greater diversity of food trees,[1] and crop species on farms. These portfolios (adapted from the Fruit Tree Portfolio Approach) are combinations of indigenous and exotic food tree, and crop species – that could provide for year-round harvest and address key micronutrient gaps in local food systems. Celine Termote of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT presented a participatory community approach for devising more diverse farming systems to address food and nutrition insecurity. An example from Vihiga County in Kenya revealed initial impact evaluations showing increased dietary diversity amongst women and children engaged in the approach.

Prasad Hendre of the African Orphan Crop Consortium (AOCC) explained the use of genomics for trait enhancement of ‘underutilized’ or ‘orphan’ species. The AOCC uses advanced breeding methods including genomic selection and marker–trait associations on 101 crops to expedite the breeding cycles for nutritious crops. A short video intervention was shown by Daniel Ofori, the Director of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (FORIG), who described the work FORIG is doing on Tetrapleura tetraptera, a tree providing fruits which are used as food supplements. FORIG set up a plant for processing of the fruit and established an agroforestry domestication program.

Terry Sunderland of the University of British Columbia outlined some ‘hidden contributions’ of forests with respect to the many ecosystem services they provide that support food production. He gave an example from research in Ethiopia which showed that planting wheat close to forests can improve nitrogen availability, water use efficiency, and therefore increase yields. Another example showed raising livestock close to forests had beneficial effects on food security for local communities as livestock grazed on leaves from forests, which then enriched the soil with their manure, resulting in higher yields.

Researchers also shared examples of how indigenous foods could support the food and nutrition security of people who are often marginalised and often most vulnerable to the response to shocks like COVID-19. Leandro Castello of Virginia Tech University presented evidence from the Amazon, where people in floodplain areas with more forest cover capture more fish from rivers, with positive dietary implications. Caleb Tata Yengo of Forest Resources for People, an NGO in Cameroon, shared results from a project in that country showing very high consumption of several forests foods including green leafy vegetables, mushrooms, oily seeds and bushmeat. He showed that the consumption of a forest liana, Gnetum africanum, known locally as eru, explained the higher hemoglobin levels and lower anemia rates in women who lived closer to the forest compared to those further away. Bronwen Powell of Pennsylvania State University pointed out that Indigenous communities around the world are vulnerable to policies that are not attentive to the unique aspects of their food systems; she presented an example from the Gumuz, a marginalized ethnic group in Ethiopia, whose preferred traditional lablab bean variety is dependent on shifting cultivation, which the government is now discouraging.

Mulia Nurhasan of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) shared an example from West Papua Province of Indonesia, where the local government quickly responded to the situation with a campaign to improve local food production and consumption, many of which are forest foods. CIFOR is working with the local government of West Papua to study how online platforms can help establish a supply chain of forest foods to reach urban consumers.

The current pandemic as a ‘wake up’ call drawing attention to the roles of forest, trees and agroforestry for enhancing resilience

The coronavirus crisis has unveiled vulnerabilities of food systems that rely heavily on imported foods. Although forests, trees and agroforestry make diverse and important contributions to food security and nutrition, these roles have not been very visible to the wider public or even to policy makers. Amy Ickowitz of CIFOR wrapped up the session with a call to spread the message of the diverse roles that forests, trees and agroforestry play in food security and nutrition. The greater the appreciation of these roles, the more support there will be for conserving forests, planting trees, and preserving local foods contributing to the resilience of food systems and recovery from shocks such as COVID-19.

By Mulia Nurhasan, Stepha McMullin, and Amy Ickowitz 

Mulia Nurhasan is an associate at CIFOR. Stepha McMullin is a scientist at ICRAF. Amy Ickowitz is Team Leader for Sustainable Landscapes and Food at CIFOR. The views expressed in this piece are solely those of the authors. 

[1] Food Trees – those that provide a variety of nutrient dense foods including fruits, leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, & edible oils are important in local food systems.

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Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database


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Article originally published at World Agroforestry (ICRAF).

Know the nutritional value of selected tree foods in sub-Saharan Africa

A new database of 132 foods from 99 species in Sub-Saharan Africa shows nutritional values for assessing people’s diets and health. The Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition Database, developed by the FTA partner World Agroforestry (ICRAF), contains nutritional information of selected tree foods and crops, with a geographical focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

The database comprises 132 foods (out of 99 species) and 30 components. All component values are presented per 100 g edible portion on fresh weight basis. A user guide has also been developed to facilitate the use of the database.

Priority Food Tree and Crop Food DB User Guide
The Priority Food Tree and Crop Food Composition DB User Guide – a helpful tool to facilitate the use of the data.

The diversity of exotic and indigenous species included in the database highlights the relevance of agricultural biodiversity, which can support more nutritious diets.

Tree foods are nutritious edible foods from trees and shrubs, including fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and edible oils. These tree products can complement and diversify staple-based diets, helping to improve diet quality and health.

However, there remains a challenge with the availability and quality of data on nutrient content for indigenous species, in particular, which have received little attention from researchers despite their potential for providing food and nutrition security.

Without this information, nutritionally valuable foods could be overlooked in agricultural and nutritional development planning, projects and policies.

In addition to actual food composition values, the database includes scores for all foods — ‘high source’, ‘source’, ‘present but low source’ or ‘not a source’ — of selected micronutrients: iron, vitamin A, folate and vitamin C.

Searches can be done by food name, scientific name and by food group.

‘Food composition data play a key role in linking agriculture to nutrition. Knowing what people eat and which nutrients the foods contain is key in assessing and improving diet quality and health,’ said Barbara Stadlmayr, co-author of the guide.

It is equally important for agriculture, including domestication and breeding programs, to select not only high-yielding but also highly nutritious species.

The database was created during development of the Food Tree and Crop Portfolios by World Agroforestry. The portfolios are combinations of indigenous, underutilized and exotic food tree and crop species that can provide year-round nutritious foods to address harvest and nutrient gaps in local diets. The European Commission and the International Fund for Agricultural Development supported the development of the portfolios and the database.

In order to address certain ‘nutrient gaps’ found in diets at any particular site, food tree species and others were mapped with food composition data. For the portfolios, the micronutrients iron, vitamin A (expressed as retinol equivalent), folate and vitamin C were selected. These nutrients were picked because of their public health concerns (iron, vitamin A, folate), their supportive functions (vitamin C supports the uptake of iron from plant foods) and their natural high quantity in tree foods (iron, vitamin A, folate, vitamin C).

However, the tree foods and other foods included in the portfolios contain several additional key vitamins, minerals and macronutrients that are of importance to the human body. To sustain all body functions and hence a healthy life, a well-balanced diet containing a variety of safe and nutritious foods is important.

Therefore, the collection of food composition data has been extended to proximates, vitamins and minerals.

The database presents the backbone of the portfolios but can also be used for dietary assessments, development of education and training materials, selection of nutritious species for agricultural domestication and breeding programs and much more. It is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Download the guide
Stadlmayr B, McMullin S, Jamnadass R. 2019. Priority food tree and crop food composition database: a user guide. Version 1. Nairobi, Kenya: World Agroforestry (ICRAF).

This research was conducted by World Agroforestry (ICRAF) as part of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry, the world’s largest research-for-development program to enhance the role of forests, trees and agroforestry in sustainable development and food security and to address climate change. The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) leads the Research Program in partnership with Bioversity International, Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR), ICRAF and Tropenbos International (TBI). The work of the Research Program is supported by the CGIAR Trust Fund.

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