Periodic Reporting for period 1 - TREETOOL (An innovative ‘Forest and Trees Toolkit’ for reducing malnutrition in Africa)
Reporting period: 2023-10-01 to 2025-03-31
Malnutrition affects one in three people across the world and is the number one risk factor in the global burden of diseases. Inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables is a key component of low quality diets, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Trees are a source of nutrient-rich fruits and leafy vegetables – and research shows that one promising solution to Africa’s malnutrition problem is to increase the planting of trees that provide nutritious fruits and vegetables. Currently, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are adopting large-scale tree planting programs as a climate mitigation strategy and to improve local livelihoods. As such, trees can provide benefits for nutrition, conservation and climate goals. However, the actors implementing these tree planting programs often lack the necessary research and knowledge on which species to plant to maximize benefits for both the environment and people. Here, we will develop a ‘Forest and Trees Toolkit’ that can be used by government extension workers, NGOs, and other types of organizations to make more targeted tree planting programs that also optimize people’s nutrition – thereby creating triple-win outcomes for nutrition, conservation, and climate goals. In short, the toolkit will be able to identify and support the collection and propagation of indigenous tree species that address month-on-month harvest (fruits and vegetables) and micronutrient gaps in local households’ diets. The development of the toolkit is based on a unique high quality interdisciplinary dataset that we have collected and compiled during the ERC Starting Grant FORESTDIET.
We conducted a user need assessment with end-users (organizations) involved in tree planting projects across Malawi. The aim of the user need assessment was to identify intervention areas and methods for helping local actors successfully implement nutrition-oriented tree planting projects. We surveyed 21 organizations and NGOs engaged in 39 tree-planting initiatives. The 39 initiatives cover all the 28 districts of Malawi. The survey assessed a) ongoing and planned tree planting initiatives, including tree species in focus, b) willingness to adjust planned initiatives to nutrition-oriented tree planting, c) knowledge gaps related to nutrition-oriented tree planting, d) challenges experienced by the organization, and e) desired resources to help overcome these challenges.
The user need assessment showed that the organizations implementing tree-planting projects in Malawi face challenges related to informed species selection, procurement of seeds, nursery management, and planning and preparation of planting sites. Many organizations cited these issues in regard to indigenous tree species, which have traditionally been given less attention by agricultural research and development than more common exotic species. Moreover, the assessment demonstrated that organizations were particularly interested in a technical tree planting guide delivered in an accessible, printed format. Based on these results, we created an illustrated toolkit titled ‘My Guide to Tree Planting – Featuring Indigenous Edible Species of Malawi’. We created the toolkit in collaboration with Dr. J. Kamoto from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) and the Forestry Research Institute of Malawi (FRIM), with inputs from L. Mkunkha at the Malawi Department of Forestry. The guide was also reviewed by three subject matter experts who live and work in Malawi: S. Nordin, K. Chanthunya, and Dr. E. Mwafongo.
The user need assessment showed that the organizations implementing tree-planting projects in Malawi face challenges related to informed species selection, procurement of seeds, nursery management, and planning and preparation of planting sites. Many organizations cited these issues in regard to indigenous tree species, which have traditionally been given less attention by agricultural research and development than more common exotic species. Moreover, the assessment demonstrated that organizations were particularly interested in a technical tree planting guide delivered in an accessible, printed format. Based on these results, we created an illustrated toolkit titled ‘My Guide to Tree Planting – Featuring Indigenous Edible Species of Malawi’. We created the toolkit in collaboration with Dr. J. Kamoto from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR) and the Forestry Research Institute of Malawi (FRIM), with inputs from L. Mkunkha at the Malawi Department of Forestry. The guide was also reviewed by three subject matter experts who live and work in Malawi: S. Nordin, K. Chanthunya, and Dr. E. Mwafongo.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, 83% of the population cannot afford a healthy diet. Inadequate intakes of fruits and vegetables is a particular problem. However, trees hold promise as an avenue to improve local diets as trees can be a source of nutrient-rich fruits and leafy vegetables. Many African countries are currently implementing larger tree-planting projects aimed at improving climate change mitigation. A key example is AFR100 aiming to restore 100 million hectares by 2030. Whether such projects also benefit people’s nutrition will depend on the tree species being planted. There is a political bias towards initiatives focused on fast growing tree species such as eucalyptus and pine that can provide firewood, but not food, and therefore has negligible impact on people’s nutrition. This bias is unfortunate as we have robust evidence from the ERC Starting Grant FORESTDIET that women with multipurpose trees in and around their farmland have better dietary quality as compared to those without trees. These findings encouraged us to examine how we can harness the momentum around tree planting to co-address both biodiversity and nutrition outcomes.
In this POC, we conducted a user needs assessment with 21 civil society organizations engaged in 39 tree planting projects across Malawi. The user needs assessment revealed a number of key challenges: 1) lack of technical information on the tree-planting pipeline from seed collection and storage to nursery production and planting, 2) poorly developed value chains for tree-based products, and 3) limited political support for tree planting and maintenance. We have responded to these challenges by creating a printed, illustrated toolkit – which was the format requested by the 21 organizations.
The toolkit is a compilation of three knowledge products. Product 1 offers a detailed written description of how to identify 24 indigenous tree species that provide nutritious foods in Malawi, coupled with botanical illustrations. Product 2 features a seasonal calendar, illustrating the flowering, fruiting, and seed collection periods for these 24 indigenous species. Product 3 provides a step-by-step guide with technical information on the procurement of seeds, nursery establishment, as well as the preparation and maintenance of planting sites.
In summary, the results from our user need assessment with organizations already engaged in tree-planting initiatives have greatly advanced knowledge on which key challenges they face. It is evident that we need 1) capacity building around tree species propagation, including preservation of traditional knowledge of indigenous species, 2) alignment of political and economic incentives to support marketing of tree-based foods and products, and 3) shifting project/funding aims from tree planting to tree maintenance. Our developed toolkit is a first step to better targeting tree-planting initiatives to achieve triple-win solutions for nutrition, conservation, and climate goals. However, while our user need assessment was representative for Malawi (the 39 tree-planting projects represented all of Malawi’s 28 districts), more research is needed in other countries and contexts to scale our toolkit beyond Malawi.
In this POC, we conducted a user needs assessment with 21 civil society organizations engaged in 39 tree planting projects across Malawi. The user needs assessment revealed a number of key challenges: 1) lack of technical information on the tree-planting pipeline from seed collection and storage to nursery production and planting, 2) poorly developed value chains for tree-based products, and 3) limited political support for tree planting and maintenance. We have responded to these challenges by creating a printed, illustrated toolkit – which was the format requested by the 21 organizations.
The toolkit is a compilation of three knowledge products. Product 1 offers a detailed written description of how to identify 24 indigenous tree species that provide nutritious foods in Malawi, coupled with botanical illustrations. Product 2 features a seasonal calendar, illustrating the flowering, fruiting, and seed collection periods for these 24 indigenous species. Product 3 provides a step-by-step guide with technical information on the procurement of seeds, nursery establishment, as well as the preparation and maintenance of planting sites.
In summary, the results from our user need assessment with organizations already engaged in tree-planting initiatives have greatly advanced knowledge on which key challenges they face. It is evident that we need 1) capacity building around tree species propagation, including preservation of traditional knowledge of indigenous species, 2) alignment of political and economic incentives to support marketing of tree-based foods and products, and 3) shifting project/funding aims from tree planting to tree maintenance. Our developed toolkit is a first step to better targeting tree-planting initiatives to achieve triple-win solutions for nutrition, conservation, and climate goals. However, while our user need assessment was representative for Malawi (the 39 tree-planting projects represented all of Malawi’s 28 districts), more research is needed in other countries and contexts to scale our toolkit beyond Malawi.