Generally, relatively little attention has been given to genetic quality in soil fertility replenishment and fodder

provision technologies, as well as in the provision of environmental services, despite the gains in production and service provision that could be achieved by doing so (e.g., Heering et al., 1996 and Tuwei et al., 2003). A good example is presented by the case of environmental service provision. As already noted (Section 3.1), the primary reason for smallholders to cultivate trees important for service provision is the products they receive directly from doing so rather than PES. Despite this, environmental-service promotion programmes have surprisingly frequently failed to consider the quality attributes Selleckchem Ivacaftor of the trees being established. A good illustration is provided by the Latin American shrub jatropha (Jatropha curcas), whose fruit can produce biodiesel that could mitigate the climate change impacts of fossil fuel use, as well as provide revenues for smallholder growers and local-community processors ( Achten

et al., 2008). Recent wide promotion of jatropha as a biofuel in Africa has relied on seed introduced into the continental mainland (probably hundreds of years ago) through Cape Verde ( Lengkeek, 2007), despite this material Selleckchem AZD6244 being of poor performance compared to provenances sampled from the native range, thus leading to low returns (e.g., for Kenya, see Iiyama et al., 2013). In contrast, for timber and food (especially fruit) trees, many of the exotic species grown by smallholders in the tropics are also grown in large-scale commercial plantations and

orchards, and more attention to genetic quality has therefore been given (e.g., Fisher and Gordon, 2007 and Ray, 2002). Significant work on less globally well known local timber and fruit trees species grown by tropical smallholders has also increased in recent decades. A review by Leakey et al. (2012) of more than 400 papers on ‘agroforestry tree domestication’, for example, assessed the progress that has been made over the last 20 years in bringing such new tree species Acesulfame Potassium into cultivation. Between 1993 and 2002, there was a focus on species priority-setting, assessing species potential and the development of appropriate propagation methods for selected trees. Between 2003 and 2012, more emphasis was placed on new methods for assessing genetic variation in wild tree populations, on AFTP commercialisation, and on adoption and impact issues. For the decade 2013–2022, Leakey et al. (2012) identified the scaling up of successful domestication practices (such as the participatory approach described in Appendix B) to be one of the major challenges.