**10. Recommendations**

To sustain the harvesting of marula in Swaziland, a combination of environmental and socioeconomic policy interventions are imperative. The community members, for instance, should plant marula in the fields around the homesteads to replace the current old marula trees when they die out or stop producing fruits so as to ensure the reliable supply of marula products, and at the same time reduce the harvesting pressure in the agricultural fields and grazing areas. Therefore, the communities should dedicate the planting of marula in an agroforestry system to alleviate the pressure on marula and enhance its population size and structure, thus increasing the sustainable utilization of the marula species and the economic sustainability of the commercial marula enterprises in the country. The communities should furthermore restrict domesticated animals from accessing the agricultural fields to reduce the browsing of growing marula seedlings in those fields.

At a policy level, the local authorities should stop people from cutting down marula trees, engage the communities in education on the importance of marula conservation and the practice of not collecting all the marula fruits and seeds from the ground for purposes of regenerating new seedlings. Rural development policies in particular should be revisited and realigned towards encouraging job creation in the rural areas of Swaziland. The Ministry of Education should widen the base and access to quality educational opportunities in the rural areas through provision of adult education programmes which will increase the chances of rural dwellers, especially women, of finding employment opportunities. This would, in turn, empower rural communities and minimize overdependence on natural forest products, thus relieving the harvesting pressure on marula.
