The National Academies Press

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From page 41... ... Millions believe each tree receives divine power through those "roots" reaching toward heaven. Out of both regard and gratitude people maintain baobab near their houses. Read the entire page →
From page 42... ... 5 Baobab Fruit Company (www.baobabfruitco.com) Read the entire page →
From page 43... ... Most commonly this soluble powder is stirred into warm water or milk to create a beverage. Each day in West Africa -- Senegal, Gambia, and Burkina Faso, for instance -- fruits are hauled into cities by the truckload for sale in the central markets and for eventual conversion into this refreshing thirst-quencher. Read the entire page →
From page 44... ... Possibly, there is no better long-term answer more basic or more beneficial to meager rural lives than this ancient food resource. The tree may be tricky to plant, slow to mature, and susceptible to grazing, but once established it becomes nearly 8 This is done especially in parts of West Africa, where baobab seeds are often handled like those from locust trees, whose seeds are turned into the famous cheesy fermented solid known as dawadawa (see companion volume on vegetables) Read the entire page →
From page 45... ... Through selecting, propagating, planting, and creating more production as well as through better organizing the mass-markets and processing the fruit on an industrial scale, there is potential for reducing hunger and rural poverty in some of the earth's most difficult-to-feed locations. There is also great promise for establishing "life-insurance plantings" that provide essentially permanent food security for a village, a valley, or a vast region. Read the entire page →
From page 46... ... Dry Areas Excellent prospects. The baobab occurs mainly in savannas. Read the entire page →
From page 47... ... In each case they are typically boiled with cereal grains to form a thick porridge, thin gruel, or watery drink. During food emergencies these kernels (like the surrounding pulp) Read the entire page →
From page 48... ... The leaves are prescribed for stomach and lower-back pain, for kidney and bladder disease, for asthma, insect bites, and more. And the fruit pulp is said to be especially useful for treating diarrhea, something that -- given its mineral content and food energy -- seems likely to be perfectly valid. Read the entire page →
From page 49... ... Sulfuric acid treatments may be most effective. 14 Respectively, Baobab Fruit Company (baobabfruitco.com) Read the entire page →
From page 50... ... They are also unusual in remaining edible far past the point where other fruits would have decayed into putrefaction. Stored under normal ambient conditions, they keep for up to 3 months, a feature especially important for hungry regions because they are still edible at times when other sustenance is hard to secure. Read the entire page →
From page 51... ... NEXT STEPS This single species gets to the heart of so many vital African needs that the time has come to move ahead with vigor. Such a widespread people's resource is worthy of pan-African cooperation in programs dealing with food, nutrition, agriculture, forestry, agroforestry, horticulture, rural development, home economics, and more. Read the entire page →
From page 52... ... Food Security This species offers promise for establishing "lifeinsurance plantings" that provide essentially permanent food security. Deforestation Tree-planting programs throughout the vast semiarid and subhumid regions of Africa should at least consider planting baobab. Read the entire page →
From page 53... ... Clearly, monkey bread could become a key tool for overcoming deficiencies in vitamins, protein, and food energy. Anyone involved with efforts to overcome general malnutrition and its related maladies should consider testing this common fruit food. Read the entire page →
From page 54... ... In Sahelian Mali and Burkina the fruits are also a major food. Besides domestic consumption, there is an enormous trade of baobab fruit northwards and eastwards in Mali where it is prized alike by Moor, Taureg, and Fula. Read the entire page →
From page 55... ... Artificial and natural regeneration techniques for managing baobab in the field require documentation and assessment. Age-old experience in the baobab's various locales could be invaluable guides here. Read the entire page →
From page 56... ... SPECIES INFORMATION Botanical Name Adansonia digitata Linnaeus. Family Bombacaceae Common Names Afrikaans: kremertartboom Arabic: bu hibab, hahar, tebeldis; fruit: gangoleis Bambara: sira Burkina Faso: twege (Moré) Read the entire page →
From page 57... ... Just how long the seeds remain viable is unknown, but it exceeds five years. Distribution The species occurs throughout semiarid continental Africa, from the Senegal coast to northern South Africa. Read the entire page →
From page 58... ... Related Species The region of origin of Adansonia digitata is not clear, but Madagascar is the center of diversity for the genus overall. Of the eight Adansonia species, six are found only in Madagascar, one other occurs in Australia, and the last, the baobab of this chapter, appears to have originated somewhere on continental Africa. Read the entire page →
From page 59... ... of any baobab seed. Modest efforts might rescue this species from extinction and also turn it to great benefit. Read the entire page →

From page 41...

... Millions believe each tree receives divine power through those "roots" reaching toward heaven. Out of both regard and gratitude people maintain baobab near their houses.