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There is a need to increase levels of production and
marketing of African indigenous crops. Currently, most of the plants are used
as feed, for traditional medicine, cosmetics, flavours, and ornamental
purposes, with a small portion being used by the food and pharmaceutical
industries. These plants can be further exploited to improve the economy of
African countries. With the diverse range of indigenous plants in Africa, a great potential exists for commercialisation. The commercialisation of these
plants will create a steady income for the rural and peri-urban unemployed
people of Africa. Plant tissue culture is one of the ways of adding value to
the wide biodiversity in African plants. The industry would create employment
in poorly-developed areas, protect over-exploitation from the wild, maintain
the gene pool, and offer marketing opportunities. To enable this, it is
imperative to understand the strategies for plant propagation, the risks involved
in plant tissue culture, the current status of commercialisation of plants in Africa and methods to improve commercialisation strategies.

South African Journal of Botany
2004, 70(1): 109–115