The next big thing arriving to the supermarket en masse is the fruit from the baobab tree (Adansonia sp.) – a tree quintessential to the African landscape. Currently, the fruit is being marketed in Europe as a super food. I never realized baobab trees had edible fruit until while living in Madagascar, I found some fruits for sale in a Malagasy market. It certainly isn’t like any fruit I had eaten before. The baobab fruit I ate had the consistency of astronaut ice cream or freeze-dried ice cream, and it had a sweet and slightly tart flavor. However, I liked the taste very much, and I was a repeat buyer. Compared to mainland Africa and Australia, Madagascar has the greatest diversity of baobab trees.
The food industry is always looking to launch the next big thing, and some examples from the past decades include açaí palm berries (Euterpe sp.) from Brazil and the Chilean sea bass (Dissostichus eleginoides) from southern oceanic waters, which is a species that should be avoided if you consider yourself a sustainability-minded consumer.
Providing these exotic products for Western palates can be both good and bad for the environment. There is the obvious concern of carbon and transporting these products over long distances. However, these new markets allow local farmers and suppliers to enjoy newfound wealth. Deforestation, fair trade, and sustainability are other issues. The Chilean sea bass or Patagonian toothfish is overfished, and the demand of some tropical fruits can result in deforestation of landscapes. However, the demand for some fruit trees can result in reforestation and afforestation projects. In Madagascar, a local method of agroforestry actually promotes biodiversity, so in many circumstances, indigenous technical knowledge (ITK) of subjects such as conservation and farming can actually help promote Western conservation goals. Utilizing and promoting such ITKs is important in projects that look to sell to Western markets.
In the Malagasy paradigm of traditional agroforestry, there may be scores of hardwood and fruit trees (banana, coffee, lychee, Albizzia sp., etc.) species – both endemic and non-endemic – planted and growing together. Nature is abundant and biodiversity is high within these man-made forests. The Western response to such local practices at first blush is to replace the local custom with monoculture; however, such practices should be studied and promoted.
For baobab fruit, the new market is already providing opportunities to locals that could use money. From Yahoo! News:
Farmer Tine, like others, used to lug his fruit to sell in the market in the nearby town of Thies.
Three years ago, he started selling instead to the Baobab Fruit Company, a Senegalese firm run by three Italians. It is the country’s only industrialised producer of dried baobab fruit pulp, which it exports for use in cosmetics and certain dietary supplements.
The new income has already made changes. It “allows me to send my kids to school,” he said.
Enter PhytoTrade Africa, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on developing fair trade and environmentally sustainable natural products.
Sensing potential, it launched in 2006 the process that would open European Union markets to this nutritious African oddity. Under EU rules, any “novel” food — one not commonly consumed in Europe before 1997 — requires special approval for use in the 27-member bloc.
“Approval for the baobab is fantastic news for Africa,” said PhytoTrade’s Cyril Lombard after the EU decision.
Baobab Fruit Images:
Baobab Fruit Company Senegal – Harvesting and Producing Video:
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On the Net: Baobab Fruit Company Senegal
Hello, thank you for the article. I’m wondering if baobab trees are considered to be invasive exotics?
Given that baobabs are a semi arid tropical species, I would not consider them invasive or cultivatable in temperate wet areas unless they are grown indoors under the right conditions.
It’s hard to say the degree of invasiveness a species will develop in a new home, but certainly if the conditions are ideal and the species exhibits the voracity to spread, and a lack of predation exists, then the degree of invasiveness would be high. Other factors such as competition with endangered species, and negative impacts on local economies will increase its invasiveness.
I would theorize that a large tree like a baobab would probably have a low degree of invasiveness in most foreign habitats where the environmental or soil conditions are merely somewhat similar.
However, the one species of baobab native to the African mainland was introduced to Madagascar, and it may have a high degree of invasiveness in that country because of the threat of out competing endemic baobabs. Furthermore, the habitats are certainly similar. Madagascar is home to some very endangered species of baobab that are only known to grow in a few locations.
This is my best guess from previous experience with other plants and invasive species, and I am no baobab expert. Hope it helps!
This is yet another rape of african resources. This has nothing to do with benefiting the poor African, its about satisfying the neverending rape of a continent and should be controlled and monitored by all African countries concerned about their resources
I’m interested in proof of your claims, because I certainly don’t want to promote something if unjust practices are involved.
I totally agree… People just come over and take all of African ressources and move, this is far from being a fair trade because you just pay them miserable money that will not allow them to live in better conditions… you buy the fruit from them for 50cent or less and resell it for $30.. So please Could you tell me how African are benefiting all that….??