Join us to secure nutrition for Zambia while also engaging for the environment!
A new project aims to bring nutrition and resilience to farming families in Zambia. By growing portfolios of diverse fruit trees such as wild fruits, smallholders can improve their health, livelihoods and environment. Help us show how trees can deliver multiple wins.
Diets in rural Zambia are low in nutrients essential for growth and well-being. But “food trees” provide these nutrients in their fruit, nuts, leaves and other edible parts. Want to support us in securing nutrition for Zambia? Then join CIFOR-ICRAF by donating.
- US$15 buys 12 food trees, a “portfolio” of species that will keep a family nourished once the trees start fruiting.
- US$25 buys a sack of tree seed from Zambia’s Miombo woodlands.
- US$100 pays for 36 food trees for three homesteads and sit-down conversations with each family about the value of nutrition from trees and how to raise them.
Working with small nursery businesses, we plan to raise 100,000 food trees. Want to be part of it? Joint the action right here.
How the project works
We are examining food trees cultivated and managed on farms, and the role of wild foods from forests. From this, we will develop and roll out portfolios of nutrition-providing trees to 10,000 households.
Project´s objectives / benefits
The problem we aim to solve is that fruit and vegetable consumption is far below the recommended amount. Much of what is currently consumed comes from forest and bush. Studying 209 rural households in Zambia, we found that about 80% of total fruit intake came from the wild.
But the ‘wild” is dwindling, and we need to bring these and other nutrition-providing trees on to farms. We know it can work. Our research in East Africa shows that carefully tailored ‘portfolios’ of 10-12 trees species can address the hunger gap and nutrient deficits.
Trees are somewhat forgotten in nutrition. But in 21 African countries, CIFOR-ICRAF found a causal link between tree cover and dietary diversity. And in 27 developing countries, Rasolofoson and colleagues found that high exposure to forests is linked to less stunting in children.
We want to do as much as we can. Please donate for nutrition messaging, community gatherings, boreholes for watering, and other activities and resources.
Project partners
The core project ‘Piloting incentive-based agricultural portfolios for nutrition and resilience in Zambia’ is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) commissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Our implementing partners are Humboldt-University, Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), and the Zambian Agricultural Research Institute.
