Ecology and Development Series No. 10, 2003 - ZEF

Conclusions and recommendations7.2 RecommendationsGiven the high level of dependency of the local community on the forest coffeeproduction, the importance of the forests for conservation of wild coffee population andother plant species, and the threat on such forests due to increasing population pressure anddemand for more land, it is less likely that the forest areas that are currently managed forcoffee production be abandoned to provide the opportunity for natural restoration throughsuccession. Neither does such management allows regeneration of major tree species.Hence, the following activities are recommended regarding management, conservation andfuture research:1. Protection of the undisturbed forest area: This can be achieved by establishingreserve for the conservation of wild coffee population and associatedbiodiversity in the undisturbed forest parts. Beside the availability of abundantwild coffee population and diverse plant species, the forest constitutes thelargest undisturbed forest fragment in the country known to have wild coffeepopulation. The reserve design developed in this study can be used as a startingpoint for establishing and managing it.2. Use of other complementary conservation approaches. In situ on-farm andhomegardens, and the ex situ conservation methods such as field gene banks andcryopreservation of seeds can enhance the conservation and use of coffeegenetic resources. The traditional coffee production systems and maintenance ofthe local landraces should be encouraged in areas where there is a threat oncultivated coffee due to replacement by other crops. Ex situ methods have theadvantage of easy access for characterization and evaluation in order to use thecollected genetic materials for breeding or genetic enhancements of thecultivated plants. Currently, there are two field gene banks in SW Ethiopia (inJimma and Chochie). However, the accessions collected from different areas ofdifferent climatic conditions may not easily adapt to the local condition of asingle field gene bank for long term. Hence, it is recommended to establish asmaller field gene bank in the locality.126