[pronut-hiv] Indigenous Fruit promotion and preservation in Malawi

["Kristof & Stacia Nordin" <nordin@eomw.net>]

Good news for food and nutrition security!  I grow each of the fruits named in the article and can attest to their deliciousness (plus one of the fruits, Maula/Mbula has a great nut inside as well!

Stacia


http://www.nationmalawi.com/articles.asp?articleID=16144

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Monday, 10 April 2006
Features
Mzuni rescues indigenous fruit trees
by Francis Tayanjah-Phiri, 10 April 2006 - 08:12:04

One fact that has gained acceptance over the years is that besides meeting 
the academic needs of their students, tertiary institutions should also help in improving the livelihood of communities around them or beyond.

This is exactly what the Mzuzu University (Mzuni) is doing on the issue of 
the environment. After noting that many indigenous fruits are fast
disappearing from the face of the earth, the university last year started 
working with communities to conserve Masuku (Uapaca Kirkiana) and Mateme 
fruits (Strychnos Cocculoides).

"We have seen that indigenous fruit trees have been ignored by most 
horticulturists and forestry experts who appear to be concentrating on
exotic fruit trees. Yet, the indigenous fruits are the ones the majority of us were exposed to as youngsters. So, we felt we cannot afford to
have them go extinct," says Associate Professor of Forestry at the 
university, Lusayo Mwabumba.

Mwabumba and Janet Mhango, a horticulturist who also teaches at the college, are running a project that seeks to curb the disappearance of some fruit trees.

The two started with Masuku and Mateme trees in their project, but say they are casting their net wider for other popular indigenous fruit trees. Their concept is based on the fact that indigenous trees are always in season in December, January and February when food is scarce.

"Indigenous fruits become a source of food security, but it is a concern 
that we as Malawians are not doing much to preserve them. It is also
unfortunate that the fruits are disappearing, with people showing no regard to the fact that they [fruits] are rich in vitamins and other nutrients," says Mwabumba.

The project involves the two going to villages in Nkhata-Bay, Kasungu and 
Mzimba to identify these fruits. They, together with the villagers, identify the best fruits that could be included in the preservation initiative.
"Villagers know which fruits are sweet. We will get seeds from there and do vegetative propagation. We will conduct the process using cuttings and 
scions," says Mwabumba.
He says the whole exercise of identification and propagation of the trees 
would be done together with the villagers so that at the end of the day 
communities should have orchards for the fruits.
"After that, we want to do the processing of the fruits, also together with the villagers, so that they attach an economic value to the initiative. Last year we demonstrated the impact of the initiative when we used one of our students to come up with a technology of making juice from such fruits locally," says Mwabumba.

The student used the technology to make juice from Mbula (Maula) fruits, 
which the programme intends to use as a model for the village-based 
initiative. The project also intends to make jam from the same indigenous 
fruits so that the communities benefit more from the programme.

"This would ensure protection of the environment while at the same time 
improving the livelihood of members of the community through the sale of the juice and jam made from the fruits," says Mwabumba, adding that their team tapped some resources from the University's Research and Publications 
Committee to support the initiative.