ICRAF’s approach to herbal anti-malarials

Tony SimonsAfrica Herbal Anti-malarial Meeting, 20-22 March 2006

World Agroforestry Centre, Kenya

Agroforestry = Working Trees for Working Land

#

900 0 900 Kilometers

N

Major Farming Systems

1. Irrigation

2. Tree crop

3. Forest based

4. Rice-tree crop

5. Highland perennial

6. Highland temperate mixed

7. Root crops

8. Cereal-root crops mixed

9. Maize mixed

11. Agro-pastoral millet/sorghum

12. Pastoral

13. Sparse (arid)

14. Coastal artisanal fishing

10. Large commercial and smallholder

Major Lakes

National Boundaries

Major rivers Major farming systems in Subsaharan Africa

Williams, P. H., Gaston, K. J. & Humphries, C. J. (1997) Mapping biodiversity value worldwide Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences, 264: 141-148.

Global Plant Diversity: botanic family richness

250,000 species13,500 genera400 families

Cultivated material

Wildharvest

Source

Home-use

Herbalist

Raw blended

Processed

Rawpure

Form

Local market

ExportMarket

End-use

Source, form, end-use of anti-malarials

Cultivated material

Wildharvest

Source

Home-use

Herbalist

Raw blended

Processed

Rawpure

Form

Local market

ExportMarket

End-use

Source, form, end-use of anti-malarials

WHO ACT approach

Cultivated material

Wildharvest

Source

Home-use

Herbalist

Raw blended

Processed

Rawpure

Form

Local market

ExportMarket

End-use

Source, form, end-use of anti-malarials

ANAMED approach

Cultivated material

Wildharvest

Source

Home-use

Herbalist

Raw blended

Processed

Rawpure

Form

Local market

ExportMarket

End-use

Source, form, end-use of anti-malarials

Plant

Harvested parts of wild & cultivated medicinal trees

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Leaf Bark Root Stem FlowerSeeds Other

Cultivated trees

Wild trees

1. Context

species prioritisation is a key issue

lack of accessibility of herbals

sustainability also had institutional context

taxonomy ?? (Linnaeus, community, healer)

multiple utilities (medicinal and other uses)

to some endangered means more expensive not a threat

need for sustainable harvesting guidelines

need for resource assessments (offtake, quotas)

need to be aware of trade issues

2. Key problems

1. Threat of disappearance of plant material/habitats

2. Lack of knowledge on cultivation and use

3. Poor continuity of supply affects market

4. Lack of quality in the product

5. Insufficient suitable technology

6. Lack access to productive germplasm

3. Categories of medicinal plants

1. Self-use: ease of diagnosissimple preparationonce-off treatmentnon-toxicminor ailment

2. Marketable: no or little degradation on drying, non-perishablemoderately insensitive to dosenutritional supplements

3. Regulated: licensed healerscertified standardsstandardised concentrationdanger of over-harvesting

4. Restricted: severe health riskclose licensing only

Wild harvest Cultivation

Local use 60% 10%

Export 20% 10%

Estimated scale of use for medicinal plants in sub-saharan Africa (excl RSA)

Wild harvest Cultivation

Local use 60% 10%

Export 20% 10%

Estimated scale of use for medicinal plants in sub-saharan Africa (excl RSA)

Wild harvest Cultivation

Local use 15% 60%

Export 5% 20%

Future scale of use for medicinal plants in sub-saharan Africa (excl RSA)

Germplasm

For:

High quality

High yield

Ease of propagation

Ease of cultivation

Stable yields

Accessibility

Activities:

Introduction

Testing of species

Testing in system (ecology)

Management practices

Multiplication

Deployment

Commercialisation

1. Nursery businesses will be key for cultivation

2. Cultivation is not always easy, some complex species

3. Need market chain analyses (actors, prices, volumes, seasons, margins)

4. Need to encourage investment in sector

5. Africa is under-developed compared to other regions

6. Public R&D can help in pre-investment phase

7. Will be SMEs not large MNC that operate in the sector

8. Need for exposition at trade fairs etc

Cultivar development

• Quantify the extent & pattern of variability in species’ fruits and nut traits of nutritive and commercial importance as well as morphologic variability.

• The aim is to identify and multiple ideotypes for ‘plus trees’ for different product markets.

Creation of a cultivar

Earlier fruiting, smaller trees and uniform quality

Dacryodes edulis

New Cultivar Development (Uapaca kirkiana)

Earlier fruiting, bigger fruits, heavy fruit loads, smaller trees and uniform quality

propagation

A highly precoc. cultivar (fruited after 2 yrs.)variations

Adoption of fodder shrubs in 26 districts of East Africa

Lak e V ict o r ia

Distribution of the 30,000 farmers planting fodder trees in Kenya by district, as of 2004

N

Major water body

District Boundary

Number of farmersLEGEND

10 - 100

101 - 999

1000 - 4999

5000 - 8000 #Y

$

NYERI

NANDI

KERICHO

MERU CENTRAL

TRANS NZOIA

KIAMBU

NYANDO

KIRINYAGA

EMBU

KAKAMEGA

KISUMU

TESO

NYAMIRA

GUCHA

MURANGA

MARAGUA

VIHIGA

MERU SOUTH

BUTERE/MUMIAS

665

7539

7260

1000

500

2054

109

1177

1190

6127Lake Victoria

Nairobi

Mt. Kenya

SIAYA

BOMET

KISII

NAKURU

LAIKIPIA

NYANDARUA

168

113

378

257

237

246

109

110

RACHUONYO

Leucaena trichandraAbout three quarters of the farmers have planted about one-third have each planted , or .Data are from Steven Franzel and the project, Scaling up the use of calliandra and other fodder trees in East Africa, financed by the United Kingdom Department for International Development, Project 6549, Forestry Research Programme.Map layers from ILRI and ICRAF.Map compiled by George Aike of GIS Unit, ICRAF - The World Agroforestry Centre.

Morus albaCalliandra calothyrsus,

Research on farmer to farmer dissemination

• What percentage of them gave seed and information to other farmers ? 53%

• To how many farmers did each disseminator give to? avg=6

• Disseminating is positively associated with – numbers of fodder shrubs on the farm, – numbers of farmers growing fodder shrubs in the district, – visits from extension.

• Factors not associated with disseminating – wealth level, gender, age, – level of education, and – whether a farmer had had a nursery

Understanding Understanding MarketsMarkets

(fruit, medicine)(fruit, medicine)

Market Trends

___________(1) Source: ICRAF 2003 Farmer Logbook Survey.

Weekly Prices of Cola Acuminata (1)

0.0

200.0

400.0

600.0

800.0

1,000.0

1,200.0

1,400.0

1,600.0

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4

2000-10 2000-11 2000-12 2001-01 2001-02 2001-03 2001-04 2001-05 2001-06 2001-07 2001-08 2001-09 2001-10 2001-11 2001-12 2002-01 2002-02 2002-03 2002-04 2002-05 2002-06 2002-07

Year-Month and Week

Pri

ce /

kg (

CF

A)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

# o

f O

bse

rvat

ion

s

Public Private Partnerships

0

10

20

30

40

50

60AllanblackiaPalm oilPalm kernelRape oil

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

0 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 38

Weeks after treatment

Pe

rce

nta

ge

s o

f c

utt

ing

s r

oo

ted

Effects of clone, substrate, leaf area interactions on rooting % of A. floribunda single-node leafy stem cuttings

clone MB, sand, 12.5cm2

clone MB, sand, 25 cm2clone MB, sand, 50 cm2

ITSC nursery, Offinso, May 2005600,000 seedlings

FORIG/ICRAF Research Nursery, Kumasi65,000 seedlings

Kwezitu Village Nursery, TanzaniaMay 2005400 seedlings

ACT - Artemisinin Combination Therapy

HCT - Herbal Combination Therapy

or

Objectives of HCT

The World Agroforestry Centre wishes to team up with a range of partners to expand on-going efforts to:

(1) assemble a diverse range of Artemisia germplasm(2) screen and identify high-yielding varieties adapted to various African agro-ecosystems(3) identify other antimalarial plants in the same various agro-ecosystems(4) carry out in vitro, in vivo and clinical tests on safety and efficacy of antimalarials singularly and in combination with Artemisia(5) develop propagation and management guidelines for anti-malarial plants(6) set up Artemisia nurseries in rural areas(7) produce and disseminate extension literature on cultivation, harvesting and use of HCTs

Access to ACTs

Paved road

SSA – 37,000 km

Switzerland – 71,000 km

Combination therapy

Annickia chlorantha

Azadirachta indica

Cryptolepsis sanguinolenta

Trichilia emetica

Vernonia spp.

Warburgia ugandensis

Zanthoxylum chalybeum

Suitability areas for cultivation of Artemisia annua

Warburgia ugandensis

With Kenyan Medical Research Institute (DFID grant)

Plasmodium falciparum

Human red blood cells O+

Incubated for 48 hours in vitro

Treated with Warburgia extracts

After 18 hours determined IC50 values

Sample code Plant part IC50 Values (µg/ml)

A1-T3 A2-T3 A3-T3

Young leavesOld leavesRoot bark

>250>2504.09±0.24

B1-T5B2-T5B3-T5

Young leavesOld leavesRoot bark

241.24±0.8833.70±2.944.70±0.35

C1-T6 C2-T6 C3-T6

Young leavesOld leavesRoot bark

162.74±43.08212.74±16.08.55±0.52

D1-T7D2-T7D3-T7

Young leavesOld leavesRoot bark

120.21±34.38131.56±3.9814.88±2.65

E1-T8 E2-T8 CQ

Young leavesOld leaves

>250>2500.173 0.0008

IC50 - Any value less than 200 ug/ml is considered both efficaceous and worthy of in vivo testing

Eco- and Fairtrade Labeling, or other product branding

• China is a rapidly ‘Emerging Organic Market’

• Labeling offers a promising niche market for NTFP / AFTP

• ICRAF has linked with the BioFach-China project (a PPP), and with Fair Trade Labeling Organizations (FLO), WWF, Greenpeace, Oxfam, to explore NTFP certification (FSC)

• BioFach-China project’s objectives very similar to those of ICRAF’s proposed Natural Product Opportunity Centre