© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
October 31, 2000
By Tervil Okoko

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 31, 2000 (ENS) - Kenyan scientists are spearheading efforts to save a tree that remedies prostate disorders and is said to help prevent prostate cancer.

Working with their counterparts at the Kenya Forest Research Institute (KEFRI), scientists at the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF) are salvaging what remains of Prunus africana, a slow growing and evergreen medicinal tree.

The tree, also known as red stinkwood, grows one meter (3.3 feet) in diameter and between 10 and 24 meters (32.8 to 78.7 feet) high. It is a highland forest tree, and grows in the humid and semi humid highlands and humid midlands of Africa.

According to ICRAF, poachers are earning fortunes by stealing the trees' rugged, blackish brown bark for illegal dealers. Liquid extracts from the bark are used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate gland hypertrophy.

Prostate disorders, which usually affect men over the age of 50, often make sufferers more susceptible to prostate cancer.

Prunus africana's leaves are used as an inhalant for fever or are drunk as an infusion to improve appetite. Water is added to pounded bark, and the red liquid is used as a remedy for stomach ache.

When people first started to collect bark from Prunus africana, they did so sustainably. Small pieces or panels of bark were removed and the standing trees could easily regenerate the removed portion. But as larger quantities of bark are sought, sustainable practices are being overlooked or ignored.

In Mount Kilim in Cameroon, for example, researchers have observed that 80 percent of mature trees die as a result of poor harvesting techniques.

Indiscriminate poachers are either stripping the tree, which eventually leads to its death, or cutting down the tree entirely.

The tree is found only in Africa and is being felled at an alarming rate to fuel a European and American market worth US$220 million a year. The German market alone is worth US$150 million.

The demand for the bark is expected to increase as people in the developed world rely more on natural cures. Scientists are worried that the growing demand could lead to the tree's extinction within 10 years.

The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists Prunus africana under Category II, which means a controlled trade in the tree is allowed. Exporting countries must demonstrate that the tree has been obtained sustainably and legally.

CITES is an international agreement to maintain biodiversity through the regulation of international trade of wild species.

The extract or powder from Prunus africana's bark is widely packaged under the name pygeum and is sold in drug stores and health food outlets throughout Europe and North America.

The annual harvest of the tree bark is estimated at 3,500 tonnes, with Cameroon the leading producer with an annual harvest of 2,000 tonnes, followed by Madagascar with 600 tonnes.

ICRAF's efforts to salvage the tree are being funded by the Rome based International Fund for Agricultural Development and the United Kingdom's Department for International Development.

ICRAF is helping farmers to grow the tree and earn a living through sustainable harvesting of its bark. It is setting up a system by which the bark can be collectively marketed by small farmers to natural remedy producers in Europe and the U.S. under a "green" label.

The tree takes 15 to 20 years to produce seeds, and between 12 and 15 years to produce bark that contains the prostate remedy's active ingredients. In a breakthrough that could be applied to other wild species of endangered trees, scientists have adapted a technology, mainly used for fruit trees, to shorten the time it takes the tree to produce seed to three years.

The center hopes that farmers' cultivation of medicinal trees like Prunus africana will not only conserve biodiversity and natural resources, but have a positive impact on rural development.

Trial projects have begun in parts of central and western Kenya and Kenyan scientists have teamed up with their counterparts from Cameroon in gathering seedlings from the remaining few wild stands of the tree for growth and development.

To read more on ICRAF's efforts to save the Prunus africana, visit http://www.icraf.cgiar.org/Prunus/PrunusAndProstate.htm#Introduction Error: Unable to read footer file.