The Feasibility of Small-scale Indigenous Fruit Processing Enterprises in Southern Africa - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 279

Table 15.1. Feasibility studies conducted in selected southern
African countries.

Country Location Product enterprise

Malawi Magomero Fruit juice concentrate

Tanzania Tabora Fruit juice concentrate

Zimbabwe Harare Fruit jam and cereal bars

15.4 Results

15.4.1 Malawi: fruit juice concentrate

The market and economic environment

A market opportunity was identified for the domestic production of good-quality
fruit juice concentrates in Malawi to be sold to manufacturers in the growing fruit
juice nectar-producing sector in Malawi. When the studies were conducted,
there was no domestic competition there; all juice concentrates were imported at
relatively high cost. At the time of the study, the two major difficulties in setting
up enterprises in Malawi that interview respondents mentioned were lack of
capital (67%) and lack of technical knowledge (13%). Analysis of the financial
feasibility of the proposed enterprise revealed that (based on the assumptions
that were made) the enterprise was potentially profitable, was projected to have
a healthy cash flow, and would be viable over the longer term. The analysis was
based on the maximum output capacity of a small-scale fruit juice concentrate
processing plant and the expected output (and therefore income) and the fixed
and running costs associated with producing and marketing fruit juice
concentrate. A summary of the financial feasibility appears in Table 15.2.

Resource environment

There is a lack of comprehensive and detailed data on current natural resources
available in Malawi. The Malawi feasibility study therefore made the
assumption that the proposed enterprise could be environmentally feasible
when fruit is sourced from both natural and domesticated sources.

Social and institutional environment
The social and institutional feasibility assessment of a fruit juice processing
enterprise at Magomero reveals that the surrounding communities would benefit
in a number of ways from its establishment. Direct benefits include the creation of
employment opportunities for some of the surrounding villages as well as the
creation of a 'market' for currently under-utilized resources in fruits, especially
indigenous fruits. Indirect benefits include an anticipated decrease in the number
of households living under the poverty and ultra-poverty line, a decrease in
malnutrition, a decrease in the severity of the impact of HIV/AIDS and an
increase in incomes for communities, especially for women. A lack of concise