116 A case study of garcinia kola nut production-to-consumption systemThe contributions of these scholars to the study of NTFPs provide the basic
and rudimentary answers to the following questions:
a. How do NTFPs generate revenue?
b. What are the qualitative and quantifiable expression and figures for a
variety of NTFP in their areas of endemism?
c. How does each NTFP contribute to the socio-economic development of
a particular area?
d. What are the results and economic advantage of trade and
commercialisation of an individual NTFP within local, national, region
and global consideration?
e. How can the quality and yield of an NTFP be improved, and what are
ways to increase the adoption of these steps among farmers?
f. What are the major constraints to the commercial development of the
individual product from cottage to large-scale commercial levels?
g. How can government policy be influenced to promote sustainable
cultivation, harvest and trade of these NTFPs like other agronomic crops,
such as Cola nitida?
h. What are the steps necessary to promote international trade of NTFPs
and to provide effective packaging systems for long distance marketing?These studies have helped to raise awareness of the contributions of NTFPs
to household economies and the security of food and health. However, specific
data on the contribution individual NTFPs make to a particular area, or to the
national economy, have been scant. Previous reports have been descriptive
and effective in highlighting the need to promote detailed studies of individual
NTFPs. Now NTFPs have joined the globalisation trend in real research and
development and this has been made possible by the Centre for International
Forestry Research. CIFOR has set the pace in promoting acquisition of relevant
data for the development of these NTFPs for sustainable production.IMPORTANCE OF GARCINIA KOLA
Garcinia kola Heckel nuts, otherwise known as ‘bitter kola’, have suffered neglect
in the areas of research and development. Despite its socio-economic and cultural
importance, few attempts have been made to improve the tree species or to
reduce the 10 to 15 years it takes to reach seed and fruit production.
An important and ancient trade product, the nuts of Garcinia kola are
available in markets throughout West and Central Africa, from Senega town in
Sierra Leone to south-west Cameroon (Isawumi 1993). In Nigeria, its trade is
as important as that of cola nut (Cola nitida and C. acuminata) in major towns
and cities in the southern parts of the country, where the tree is endemic.
Bitter kola is favoured by the three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, the
Yoruba, Igbos and Hausa. Its domestic trade thus extends beyond the southern
production areas to the northern parts of the country. Apart from being a
stimulant, it has in chewing a bitter astringent and resinous taste and is often
used as an aphrodisiac. Its highly valued perceived medicinal attributes, and
the fact that consumption of large quantities does not cause indigestion (as
cola nuts do), make it a highly desired product (Dalziel 1937).07garcinia.p65 116 22/12/2004, 11:04