Creating Opportunities for Domesticating and Commercializing Miombo Indigenous Fruit Trees in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 138

security options, through the gathering and processing of tree products.
Indigenous fruits from miombo woodlands are central to the livelihood systems of
both rural and urban dwellers in southern Africa, especially during periods of
famine and food scarcity (Campbell, 1987; Campbell et al ., 1997; Mithöfer and
Waibel, 2003; Akinnifesi et al ., 2006a; Mithöfer et al ., 2006). Miombo woodlands
represent an important food supplement and cash income in better times for rural
people living around forests (Mithöfer, 2005). As the rate of deforestation
increases in the region, wild fruit trees become prone to overexploitation and
extinction. Therefore, the livelihood of rural people who largely depend on this
natural resource is seriously threatened. The food production capacity of the
region is being pushed to the limit, resulting in overcultivation of fragile soils and
loss of soil quality.
A study conducted in 2002 to assess the contribution of miombo fruits to
the livelihoods of the rural communities in the region has shown that 65-80% of
rural households in the 'Chinyanja Triangle', i.e. Malawi, Mozambique and
Zambia, lack access to food for as much as 3 or 4 months per year, and
26-50% of the respondents relied on indigenous fruits for sustenance during this
critical period (Akinnifesi et al ., 2004a). Those most at risk - principally women
and children - experience high rates of malnutrition and suffer dispro-
portionately from poor health. In an earlier survey, 97% of households did not
have enough food, and 60% and 21% had relied on Uapaca kirkiana and
Parinari curatellifolia fruits, respectively, as coping mechanisms. In terms of
scaled scores of products derived from all semi-wild trees in Malawi, households
ranked them in the following order: firewood, timber, fruit, medicine, woodwork
and manure (Kruise, 2006). Many of these households (79-83%) apply
firebreaks in the crop area and around homesteads.
Indigenous fruits remain one of the major options for coping with hunger
and nutritional deficiency in diets and with poverty in this region. Studies have
shown that harvesting fruits from the wild and also from the semi-domesticated
trees growing on farms can boost rural employment and generate substantial
income (Ruiz-Perez et al ., 2004; Leakey et al ., 2005; Mithöfer, 2005), especially
from processing and adding value (Saka et al ., 2004). Moreover, 94% of rural
households in four villages in South Africa were reported to have been making
use of Sclerocarya birrea fruits (Shackleton, 2004). Miombo indigenous fruits
such as Uapaca kirkiana , Sclerocarya birrea , Strychnos cocculoides , Adansonia
digitata and Parinari curatellifolia are rich in sugars, essential vitamins, minerals,
oils and proteins necessary for human nutrition (Saka et al ., 2004, 2006, Chapter
16, this volume; Tiisekwa et al ., 2004). The vitamin C level of dry baobab pulp
can be as high as 5127 mg/kg (Sidibe et al ., 1998). The efficiency of the fruit
processing industry is, however, thwarted by lack of a sustained supply of
primary products (raw materials) or intermediate products, and medium-scale
entrepreneurs complain about their dependence on imports. This is because
supplies are based on the importation of exotic fruit concentrates only.
Fresh fruits are highly perishable and incur direct or indirect nutrient and
quality losses along the market chain from production to consumption.
Indigenous fruits, mostly harvested from the wild, are generally sold or
consumed fresh, and large proportions (up to 55%) of the collected fruits are