Correlates of product quality of soumbala, a West African non-timber forest product

Knowledge of the correlates of product quality is a prerequisite for further commercialization of soumbala, a food product extracted from the leguminous tree Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) G. Don. In this study qualitative and quantitative data derived from interviews of producers and expert users are used to estimate the infuence of P. biglobosa management practices, soumbala product processing practices, and nutritional composition of soumbala on perceived soumbala quality. Several variables on management practices correlated with high quality soumbala as revealed by binary logistic regression, with quality as the dependent variable and six management related variables as independent variables. Variables relating to product processing were examined using qualitative data from group sessions, gathering all the producers in a given village. Finally the relationship between nutritional composition and soumbala quality was determined. The results show that local knowledge, management practices, and product processing practices are correlated with soumbala quality, whilst nutritional composition is a poor predictor of soumbala quality.