Status and prospects for Allanblackia domestication in Tanzania

Allanblackia spp. of the family Clusiaceae are high value multipurpose indigenous tree species (spp) in the West, East and Central African regions, notably Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Cameroon. They are being accepted by farmers for use in agroforestry systems with both environmental and economic benefits. The species is not likely to be trapped by climate change due to the observed high genetic diversity within the species and its ability to thrive in different habitats ranging from wet evergreen to dry semi-deciduous forest zones. Allanblackia spp have even been identified by FAO as a crop of high potential interest in the development of rural communities. It also has the potential to serve as a novel source of household income for rural populations while contributing to forest landscape restoration with the potential of counteracting the impacts of climate change. Benefits derived from Allanblackia spp are numerous, including shade, timber, medicine and seed oil (Ofori et al., 2006). When dried, the kernel contains about 67-73% of solid white fat (Siaw et al., 2003; Sefah, 2006). Deforestation is often blamed as a main culprit for decreasing water quality. About 20% of the State Forest land in Indonesia is classified as ‘protection forest’ in order to safeguard water quality. Also in Sumberjaya (sometimes violent) evictions took place in order to ‘safeguard’ the watershed. This study aims to assess the impact of land use on the biological water quality.