Cassia Didymobotrya

Also called Popcorn Cassia, because it smells like fresh cooked, buttered popcorn when you run your fingers thru the leaves and then smell.

Click here for an Information Page from the Netherlands

An article about water management in Kenya and how Cassis Didymobotrya is used by farmers to aid in Milk preservation.

From this web page : http://www.ogc.be/cta/spore.htm

A 300-year-old technology developed by farmers in Kenya to preserve milk should benefit from future collaboration between farmers and researchers and lead to improved use and management of trees, according to a study published by the Forestry Action Network.

This study, carried out in Cherangani and Kwanza Divisions in Trans-Nzoia District, documents how farmers developed a local milk treatment technology using tree products. Milk treatment using trees is a practice that has been used for many years by pastoralists in Kenya. Due to various pressures, some traditional pastorales communities have become settled farmers and turned into cultivation of crops as a means of survival.

However, they have continued the practice of milk treatment, incorporating the desired tree species for the practice in their farming system. This study aims at understanding how the species were identified and selected; how the trees are managed; what management problems are associated with the trees; and how the results of milk treatment experiments are evaluated. The transfer of information between and within various communities within the two Divisions was also investigated.

Taste, smell, colour, palatability, and the need to preserve milk for longer periods were the major problems identified by the farmers leading to experiment with milk treatment, resulting in the innovation of mursik production. The species used for milk treatment are primarily planted, managed and protected by women. Cassia didymobotrya was the most preferred species for milk treatment; 60 percent of the farmers had planted it around their homesteads. Milk treatment provided sufficient incentive to women to plant and manage trees, while firewood was considered a useful by-product. Men (who play a minimal role in food preservation) paid more attention to trees that generate immediate income through the sale of their products e.g. poles, honey, and small timber.

The mursik innovation at present is fairly well understood; little research beyond maintaining the technology is undertaken by the farmers. Although farmers were interested in advancing the technology, it appeared that further development and additional innovation were constrained by a lack of resources, and technical and marketing know-how.

Milk treatment using selected tree species: a case study in Trans-Nzoia District, Kenya. 1997. By W Mureithi. Moi University. A Community's initiatives to survive in a semi-arid area: the case of Kikapu, Njoro location, Nakuru, Kenya. 1997. By E M Njoka and P M Makenzi. Egerton University. Forest Action Network, P O Box 21428, Nairobi, Kenya. Fax: +254 2 718398, Email: fan@arcc.or.ke