Dr. Marius Ekué has a strong background in Forest Genetic Resource Management with interests in agroforestry, non-timber products and biodiversity. He has expert ethnobotanical knowledge on Ackee (Blighia sapida), a tropical West African fruit tree that plays an important role in rural livelihoods and traditional agroforestry systems in Benin. His interest in the species solidified while working as a research assistant at the Laboratory of Applied Ecology at the University of Abomey-Calavi, and continues today.

During Marius’ fellowship with Bioversity, research was conducted as part of his PhD on: “Indigenous Knowledge, Traditional Management and Genetic Diversity of the Endogenous Agroforestry Species Ackee (Blighia sapida) in Benin”. The work involved collecting information about traditional knowledge and use of the species, its genetic diversity, as well as its market value and landscape needs. This information is important not only for conservation interests, but “participatory domestication”, i.e. learning from and providing farmers with guidelines on what technologies and techniques would best suit their circumstances and needs. Germplasm collection and surveys on farmers’ preferred traits were also carried out, providing a decent platform for the future creation of better varieties of Ackee.

Marius currently works as Scientific Coordinator for the global project “Identification of Tree Species and Geographical Origin” at Bioversity International’s Kuala Lumpur office in Malaysia. An informative leaflet on the conservation and sustainable use of Blighia sapida was published in 2011 as part of Bioversity’s African Food Tree Species Leaflet Series.