The book Tree Commodities and Resilient Green Economies in Africa is about tree crop commodities in Africa and it sought to examine how best Tree commodities can contribute to achieving sustainable development goals in Africa.
It is premised on the fact that tree commodities (such as coffee, cocoa, cashew, oil palm, rubber etc.) represent some of the continent’s fastest-growing land uses. These commodities support the livelihoods of millions of people and constitute an essential part of African economies. At least five countries in Africa are single tree commodity-dependent economies; seven more economies can be considered tree commodity-dependent when more than one tree commodity is considered.
But tree commodity farmers remain poor because prices remain low, and most crops are exported as raw materials or with little processing. As such, African countries capture very little of the total value of the commodity value chains. For example, the continent produces 75% of the world’s cocoa, but captures less than 10% of the commodity’s total market value. Fluctuating prices pose serious balance of payment challenges for economies, too.
