Food Plants International - Publications Fruit trees in arid areas of Ghana

Ghana has a population of about 30 million people. There are slightly over 1,200 edible plant species currently growing in Ghana. But life gets more difficult in the drier Sahel zone to the north of the country.

There are possibly 4-5 million people who live in this more arid zone. Tree are important for protecting the soil and reducing the spread of the desert. As well they often provide firewood for cooking and wood for houses. But as well there are a number of trees that produce edible parts.

It is merely a selection from our database of edible plants of the world. (www.foodplantsinternational.com) Our database now has 31,499 edible plant species for every country of the world. Of these 1,224 are recorded as growing in Ghana. But many won’t grow in the drier arid areas. In fact we have 390 edible plant species that do occur in arid areas in Ghana and we have just chosen 113 fruit trees that occur in arid areas of Ghana.

This booklet only covers trees of the arid zones in Ghana that produce edible fruit.