Shea trees in agro-forestry (#journal)

Shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa Gaertn. f.): from local constraints to multi-scale improvement of economic, agronomic and environmental performance in an endemic Sudanian multipurpose agroforestry species

 Shea trees have been for 3000 years probably the most economically and culturally important tree species in Sudanian agroforestry systems. This synthesis paper gathers and updates most of the scattered knowledge on shea trees and parklands: socio-economic potential of shea production, current means of enhancing shea domestication, tree impacts on environmental resources and associated crop production. It concludes with a proposal for a systemic and participative bio-economic modelling approach in order to simulate intensification of shea parklands’ production.