Opportunities for Commercialization and Enterprise Development of Indigenous Fruits in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 255

In addition to their use for home consumption, indigenous fruits are also
traded. Families that need additional cash to pay for agricultural inputs and to
buy food to supplement subsistence farm production commonly trade in
indigenous fruits. Indigenous fruits sold at local and urban markets yield
substantial household incomes (Schomburg et al ., 2001). However, despite the
importance of indigenous fruits to African consumers, relatively little success
has been achieved with their commercialization. Only a couple of indigenous
fruit products have made it onto the international market. Amarula Cream,
made from the fruits of Sclerocarya birrea by the Distell Corporation in South
Africa, is probably one of the best-known examples. Studies that were
conducted in Malawi (Kaaria, 1998) and in Zimbabwe (Ramadhani, 2002) also
found that the trading of indigenous fruits is poorly developed and lags far
behind the trading of exotic fruits.
14.2 Fresh Fruit Markets and Value Addition
Despite its poor state of commercial development, indigenous fruit trading and
marketing are important economic activities in countries such as Malawi and
Zimbabwe (Kaaria, 1998; Ramadhani, 2002). Indigenous fruits are sold in both
urban and rural markets, showing that consumers like the fruits and are willing
to pay for them. The above-mentioned studies also highlight some of the
problems experienced in the trading of indigenous fruits.
14.2.1 Wild harvesting
A variety of methods are employed to harvest fruits from wild growing trees.
Methods include the picking of fruits from the ground following abscission,
climbing trees to pick fruits, throwing objects to dislodge fruits, hitting stems
with heavy objects, and shaking stems or branches to dislodge fruits (Kadzere
et al ., 2002). These crude methods of harvesting fruits not only damage the
trees but also cause excessive bruising to the fruit, thus reducing the shelf life,
quality and market value. The time of harvesting can be critical. Fruit collectors
in some countries such as Tanzania only collect fruits that have fallen to the
ground after abscission. The harvesting of such fully ripe fruits would leave
only a limited consumption period and increase the chances of mechanical
damage during the transport process. Producers of exotic fruits normally
harvest their crops according to harvesting indices, indicating the optimum
harvesting time. Fruits are harvested before they are fully ripe, and harvesting is
timed so that fruits only reach full ripeness when presented to the final
consumer. For indigenous fruits, there is the need for better understanding of
ripening patterns and to determine whether the technique of harvesting unripe
fruit for postharvest ripening can be successfully applied (Kadzere et al ., 2002).
One of the factors limiting the development of indigenous fruits is that they
are characterized by short but intense fruiting seasons. For example, in Zambia
the average collection time for Uapaca kirkiana fruits is only 3 months. However,