Product Development: Nutritional Value, Processing and Utilization of Indigenous Fruits from the Miombo Ecosystem - Indigenous Fruit Trees in the Tropics: Domestication, Utilization and Commercialization - page 290

Table 16.1. Total imports and exports of tropical and temperate fruits and products (metric
tonnes) during 2000-2001 from Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Exports Imports

Fresh, Tropical Fresh,

Country Fresh Dried Juices processed fruits Fresh Dried Juices processed Oranges

Malawi - 28 - 7 - 9 10 11 100 14

Tanzania 3 - 8 20 26 2 6 190 90 -

Zambia - - 2 15 - 20 20 870 480 -

Zimbabwe 1184 - 122 122 70 - 5 590 294 -

Total 1187 28 132 166 96 31 41 1661 964 14

-, data not available.
Source: Saka et al . (2004).

mixed. Wines from grapes are the second most important product imported into
Malawi after fresh fruits (NSO, 1999).
Earlier efforts to promote the wider utilization of indigenous fruits in urban
centres have been recorded in southern Africa. Important examples include the
processing and marketing of wine from Uapaca kirkiana in Zambia, and the
production and marketing of Mulunguzi wine from Ziziphus mauritiana in
Malawi (Kwesiga et al ., 2000). The utilization of indigenous fruits was an
important criterion in selecting priority tree species for domestication in
southern Africa. The processing of priority key indigenous fruit products in
Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe is described in the following section.

16.3 Processing of Indigenous Fruits

Indigenous fruit processing is a strategy that adds value to the indigenous fruits
and generates substantial cash income for rural people, thus contributing to
improved household welfare. There is a potential for increasing this contribution
through the development of cottage but commercially oriented industries for
producing indigenous fruit products such as jams and juices. These industries
would promote the improvement and efficient utilization of indigenous fruits and
they could also promote the conservation of species for the sustainable supply of
raw materials (Leakey and Ladipo, 1999). Furthermore, once indigenous fruit
processing becomes viable for commercial purposes, the local community and
the private sector might be induced to plant indigenous fruit trees as cash crops.
Indigenous fruit trees and shrubs produce large quantities of ripe fruits at
different times of the year; the quantity of fruit produced generally exceeds
demand, resulting in wastage (Maghembe et al ., 1998). This situation is
exacerbated by the absence of storage or fruit-processing facilities. Fresh fruits
are processed in order to: (i) provide a palatable product; (ii) preserve the
product; and (iii) obtain intermediate products which can be transformed into
other by-products. Transformation of fresh fruits into a dried form is
advantageous because in this way they can be stored for more than 18 months