Paper short abstract:

Achieving food security is a major global concern, specifically in the rural areas where many protected areas (PAs) are located. This paper contributes to the debate on how forest plays a role in diets and nutrition security using the example of wild fruit(Baobab) found in the Boundou Nature Reserve

Paper long abstract:

An important contribution of forests to food security is in the form of the direct provision of wild foods such as edible plants or wild meat. The Boundou Community Nature Reserve (RNC), created in 2009, is located to the east of the Tambacounda Region in Senegal and it is dominated by vast shrub savannas. The RNC is rich in biodiversity and natural resources that the inhabitants of Boundou intend to protect. Wild edible fruits such as baobab (Adansonia digitata L., Malvaceae) hold great potential for improving human diets, especially in agricultural societies like Senegal. In the Boundou RNC, the impact of conservation has been seen to be positive because the access to pick this wild fruit is free to everybody in the community. The collection of these wild foods from the reserve contributes to food security by allowing the population to access these nutrition foods when they may not have other sources of sustenance. Although there are rules guiding the picking of baobab in the RNC, for instance, the use of axe for any kind of activities is prohibited in the reserve. Wild products often constitute security options, for example, in the Boundou community during the dry season when there are shortfalls in agricultural crop production, majority of the population depends on the gathering and processing of baobab fruits from woodlands and the reserve. The sale of this wild fruits brings essential cash income to many households, this income can be used to purchase food which then improves food security.