Opportunities for Commercialization and Enterprise Development of Indigenous Fruits in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 266

14.5 Commercial Processing of Indigenous Fruits
14.5.1 Adding value to natural products
Value addition occurs when a raw material is changed in a way that increases its
selling price and profit margin, thus allowing the producer or processor to make
more money from that raw material. As a general rule, most southern African
countries have been exporters of raw materials or semi-processed raw materials
and importers of processed materials. The reasons for this are numerous and
include: lack of machinery to undertake processing; lack of skills to undertake
research and development on fruit processing; lack of skills to run processing
facilities; lack of funds to establish processing facilities; high maintenance costs
for spare parts that have to be imported; high unit cost of running small
processing facilities, making African processed products uncompetitive on world
markets; and prohibitive costs of certification of processing facilities. Value
addition to agroforestry products can be conducted at primary and secondary
processing levels. At primary level, rural communities can become involved in
processing, harvesting and grading of raw materials as well as in the extraction
of pulps, herbs and oils. Processing at this level requires low inputs and skill
levels, and can take place close to the source of raw materials. Generally no
certification is required at this level.
Secondary processing would normally take place in a factory environment.
Specialized skills and equipment are required to process pulps, herbs and oils into
finished products of high quality. Factories normally need to have certification for
processing of food and cosmetic products and require reliable electricity and
water supplies. Secondary processing facilities are also located closer to the end
product market than to the source of raw material. There are both advantages
and disadvantages for producers and processors of doing primary processing at
community level. Some of the advantages and disadvantages are presented in
Table 14.4.
14.5.2 Current commercialization activities
The 'Commercial Products from the Wild' group conducted a regional survey
of commercial indigenous fruit processors in 2003. A total of 13 organizations
in Malawi, two in Botswana, 11 in Namibia and 12 in Zimbabwe were
interviewed. The organizations ranged from government departments, private
companies, trade organizations, private farms, nurseries and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs). Some of the key results of the survey include:
1. Indigenous fruit commercialization is very poorly developed in Malawi.
Only a couple of organizations are actually trading in such products, ranging
from fruit juice to seedlings. Only the 'Sustainable Management of Indigenous
Forests' project in Blantyre has a trade value of more than US$5000/year.
2. Zimbabwe is probably the best developed in terms of indigenous fruit
commercialization in southern Africa, with high volumes of trade in indigenous
products recorded in this country. Most of the organizations process their own