Mango processing plant to open in Malindi, Kenya

A 75 million Kenya Shilling (1US$ = 84 KES) mango processing plant is set to open in February in a key cultivation region of the fruit, Malindi. The plant will crush 60 tonnes of raw mangoes every day. Another factory is also set to open in Hola, Tana Delta. With a combined capacity to process 90 tonnes of raw mangoes in a day, the new factories are expected to significantly improve farm gate prices paid to farmers.

Malindi and Tana Delta are the main producers of Ngowe mango, which is preferred for juice making.

Malindi alone produces over 70 per cent of the total production of the variety in the Coast province.

The new plant was set up by the Malindi Farmers Cooperative Society, which has been buying raw mangoes from its members for sale to the juice manufacturers. The project was funded by the Micro Enterprise Support Programme Trust (MESPT) that receives support from Danida, a Danish funding institution. The project was built from last year on a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) arrangement and MESPT will transfer it to the co-operative once the capacity to run it is established.

The pulp can be stored for a long period of time and will also reduce the cost of transport associated with selling raw mangoes, which sometimes go bad before they even secure a market. Total wastage is estimated at 40 percent of the total collections.

In Malindi, there are over 12,000 mango farmers with an estimated 120,000 trees lying on 1,700 hectares of land, according to the results of a baseline survey on the crop carried out in 2009 by Institutional Development and Management Services (IDM), a research firm.

Since mango is a seasonal crop, an addition of equipment to the machines that were imported from Italy will create capacity for the factory to process passion, pineapples and water melon, Nyale said.

The new plant has increased the Coast province processing capacity to 260 tonnes of mango everyday. In addition to the two new factories, other major processors in the region include Allfruits EPZ limited in Mikindani, which process about 100 tonnes of mango everyday for export to Europe and Milly Fruit famous for Picana brand that is able to crush about 70 tonnes of mangoes per day.


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ICIPE to strengthen fight against fruit fly to boost Kenya mango exports

International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) has imported a wasp from Hawaii to help mango farmers at the Coast fight fruit flies. The biggest threat to mango production in Africa is the pest, also known as Fopius Arisanus, Icipe Africa fruit fly programme leader Dr Sunday Ekesi said.

Kenya’s mango exports have been locked out of lucrative global markets such as South Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Japan and US after being infested by the fly. Yield loss on mangoes in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda due to the fruit fly ranges between 30 and 70 per cent depending on the locality, season, and variety of the fruit, he said. A recent study funded by Agricultural Business Development indicated that more than 80,000 households at the Coast engage in mango production with an estimated one million people earning their livelihood from the sector.

“There are more than 18,000 hectares with 1.3 million trees under cultivation,” said Mr Gachanja Githende, a researcher in a past interview. He said the industry is valued at Sh260 million per year. According to Dr Ekesi, Kenya has been grappling with the problem of the mango fruit fly since 2003 when the pest reportedly came along with imported commodities from Sri Lanka. It has since become the single biggest threat to the mango and avocado sub-sectors in the country. “Presence of any trace of the mango fruit fly can lead to the destruction of an entire consignment at the exporters’ costs,” Dr Ekesi said, adding that the pest is also found in 28 other African countries. He said Kenya has since 2008 been losing $2 million (Sh180 million) annually for not exporting avocados to just a single market. “When they fly found its way into Kenya, there was no accompanying natural enemy to contain its multiplication as happens in Sri Lanka,” Dr Ekesi said.

In Sri Lanka, there are two types of insects that feed on the eggs and larvae of the mango fruit fly, keeping the level of damage at a manageable level, says the scientist. However, earlier efforts to import the two insects from Sri Lanka were not successful due to hurdles in exchange of biodiversity such as what Kenya was to offer in return, Dr Ekesi said. This took Icipe scientists to Hawaii in US, which first experienced the mango fruit fly problem in 1940s and imported natural enemies from Asia that they today use to contain the menace. The wasp only needs to be introduced once after, which it breeds and increase its population, so long as they are not killed by pesticides. The wasp was introduced in Kilifi and Malindi last month after trials were conducted in Magadi. Used together with other methods, the pest control will achieve over 90 per cent results, Mr Ekesi said.

Kenya Technical Standing Committee on Import and Export of biological material has already approved the introduction of the insects for commercial use, says Ekesi. After North Coast, the insects will be introduced in South Coast and Eastern province. The trials have established that the pest is effective in controlling mango fruit fry and it does harm other useful organisms, Ekesi said. The Icipe project, which is funded by GIZ of Germany and Biovision, a Swiss Ngo to a tune of 1.5 million euros covers Tanzania, Uganda, Benin, Cameroon and Senegal, Mr Ekesi said.
Market analysts see this development as a major breakthrough for a sector that has not been able to generate sustainable revenues to farmers due to marketing challenges. Projects of value addition have already been started in Hola, where the Coast Development Authority is constructing the first major mango processing plant.
From the survey findings carried out by Institution Development and Management (IDM) Services recently on mango sub sector in the Coast Region, it supports over 80,000 farm families. Information from the survey shows that the population of trees stands over 1.3 million.

Taking all products into consideration, the value of the mango sub-sector at the farm gate level is estimated to be Sh2.6 billion annually, the study said. Dynamics in the mango sub-sector show that there is a general rise in the population of trees exemplified by the number of new entrants in mango farming and the number of trees in the 0 - 3 years category, 178,391, representing 13.3 per cent of the total population. “ It is also evident that the mango sub sector has the potential to drive a substantial proportion of the agricultural economy in the Coast region as 78 per cent of all the trees fall in the productive category,” Gachanja Githende a managing partner of IDM.

Business Daily Africa

Higher than normal temperatures blamed for sharp drop in Senegal mango production

Families in Senegal’s Casamance region have less to spend and less to eat this lean season because of a drastic drop in mango production, residents and agriculture experts say.

Mangoes are a major source of family revenue in the region and an important food in the period between harvests. Farmers depend on mango exports as well as local sales.

“This year we have seen a 70-80 percent decrease in mango production in Casamance,” agriculture and rural development expert Mamadou Conté said in the main city of Ziguinchor. The region normally produces about 30,000 tons a year, he said.

“The reason is the intense heat we had during the period from November to March - the blossoming period for mango trees. At times it hit 40 degrees Celsius here in Casamance, while mango trees need cooler weather to bloom.”

From November 2009 to February 2010 temperatures hovered in the high 30s - “a rise from preceding years,” according to Mamadou Sambou, head of meteorology in Ziguinchor. He said the same period a year ago had high 20s.

“In some 40 years Casamance has not seen anything like this,” agricultural technician Conté said. “Surely it is due to climate change; I just hope it will not continue.” Other fruit trees have also been affected.

Fruit-destroying insects and increased soil salinity have also hit production, according to William Diatta, WFP senior programme officer and acting head of the Ziguinchor sub-office.

“A lot more households find themselves vulnerable this year,” Diatta said. WFP is likely to increase the number of people it assists through food-for-work projects - including restoring mangroves and building salt-blocking dams.

Clémentine Mangou’s family is just one of those affected. “We sold almost nothing this year,” said Mangou, who lives in the Tilène neighbourhood of Ziguinchor. Her family has an orchard in the village of Kitor, 7km away. She said her family harvested barely three tons, while normally they produce at least 10.

“Selling mangoes is what always got us through this period - providing us with some money to buy food and meet our daily needs, and even buy clothes for the children… Putting the children in school this year is going to be very difficult.”

Mangou said she goes door-to-door to wash clothes to make some money.

The loss of mangoes directly hits not only people’s wallets but also their health.

“Aside from the commercial aspect, mangoes play a huge role in food security in Casamance,” said Ismaïla Diédhiou of the Senegalese Association for Community Development.

Mangou said: “The children will not be able to eat mangoes as they usually do; even for the adults mangoes are an essential part of our diet during this period.”

IRIN

Senegal mango farmers learn to use locally made fruit-fly traps

Mango farmers in Senegal are learning how used plastic water bottles and a few dollars could save hundreds of dollars they lose annually to a fruit-destroying fly.

Government agriculture officials and aid groups are training producers in the use of a trap made of local and recycled materials – far cheaper and more accessible than imported traps. In turn the producers will train other farmers.

The effort is expected to provide considerable relief to mango producers who for at least four years have seen the fly gut their livelihoods. Mangoes have become particularly important to many farmers in the embattled Casamance region since landmines have forced them to give up other crops.

“This is really a huge sigh of relief for the farmers of Casamance,” said Ibou Goudiaby, who has five hectares of mango trees just south of the Casamance capital, Ziguinchor.

“This will allow us to recover our plantations, which are our only source of revenue until demining is complete.” He called for stepped up efforts to train farmers in methods to kill off the fly, saying, “Without this effort all of Casamance would sink into misery because most of us are cultivators.”

Residents across Casamance are being hit by food shortages due to poor rains. And many families depend on mango crops because they grow during the rainy period – from July through September – the lean period for other crops. Farmers in Senegal live on the export of mangoes as well as their local sale.

Fruit farmers in the Casamance region of Senegal hope a trap method will help them protect their crops from destructive fruit flies

Farmers said the method should be applied across the region as soon as possible, since mango trees start to flower in January.

Commercial traps are available, but they cost 7,800 to 12,000 CFA francs (US$17 to $27), according to Mamadou Dabo, crop protection engineer with the Agriculture Ministry, so agriculture experts and NGOs are showing producers how to make their own. Using recycled plastic water bottles and a few other local supplies the cost shrinks to about 2,500 CFA francs.

The method uses a substance that attracts the flies and then traps them in a specially designed receptacle. In trials in July and August, the trap captured an estimated 60,000 flies in 10 days.

The Agriculture Ministry and development NGOs had to study the biology of the fly to determine the best technique, Dabo explained. The female fly pierces a mango and lays eggs in the ripening fruit. In two to four days the eggs hatch, releasing maggots that cause the fruit to rot and fall to the ground. Once the infested mango falls the larvae bury themselves in the soil to mature then emerge, restarting the destructive cycle.

Experts note that keeping plantations clean and free of debris is the first line of defence. It is recommended that farmers bury fallen fruits at least 50cm deep.

Experts continue to study the biology of the fly, so as to tackle the problem and stave off infestations of other crops, Dabo said.

IRIN


IRIN

Ghana reaps first harvest of new sorghum variety

The West Africa Sorghum Value Chain Development Project last year produced 900 tonnes of a new type of sorghum in Ghana's Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions.

This was made possible through technical and credit support the Project offered to farmers in the regions.

They produced 903 metric tonnes of "kapaala," a new breed of sorghum whose cultivation was being promoted in the regions to serve as raw material for Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited.

Mr. Stephen Mwinkaara, manager of the Project, announced the developments at a field day to show case a 20-acre demonstration sorghum farm inter cropped with grafted mango. He expressed the hope that the farmers would produce 1,600 metric tonnes of the grain this farming season, from about 4,000 acres of land.

My Joy Online

Ghanaian agri-bank invests $2 million in cotton, mango, shea development

The management of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) will invest more than two million dollars to promote large-scale cultivation of cotton, mango and shea nuts in the three Northern Regions of Ghana.

Mr. Edward Boakye-Agyeman, Managing Director of the bank, said under the project, 500 farmers each from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions would be assisted with irrigation facilities, insecticides and other inputs to increase yields and improve upon their incomes.

He said this when he and Mr Paul Koranteng, the Board chairman, inspected a 21-acre Dolana Ayana Organic Mango Farm at the outskirts of Savelugu in the Savelugu/Nanton District on Wednesday.

Boakye-Agyeman said the Bank hoped to recover its investment after a six to eight-year period, after which it would transfer ownership of the farms to the farmers. He said last year the bank assisted 29,000 farmers in the three regions in the production, distribution and marketing of cotton to the Ghana Cotton Company and OLAM, a multi-national company.

My Joy

International assistance boosts Mali's mango export potential

In the last 20 years Mali's exports of mangoes to Europe declined under pressure from countries such as Peru and the Cote d' Ivoire, who have gained increased market share.

But today collaboration among many organizations is boosting Mali's mango export potential. Producers and exporters, the Malian government, development partners and international supermarket chain Royal Dutch Ahold are all playing a role.

During 2005, Ahold purchaser Bakker Barendrecht visited Mali for the first time, and the idea of test shipments supervised by Ahold staff developed. To ensure test shipments met Ahold's standards, Mali needed to meet two conditions.

First, the mangos needed to be pre-cooled as Ahold purchases only mangos shipped via sea freight. At the time, Bamako lacked a proper conditioning and cooling station. Second, exporter cooperatives needed to be in an advanced stage of EurepGAP certification, which is adhered to by nearly all large supermarkets in Western Europe.

In 2006 Mali's potential to export on a large scale via sea increased significantly. The Malian government provided two hectares of land for the new conditioning/cooling station, Périmètre Logistique Aménagé en Zone Agricole (PLAZA), located in the industrial airport zone of Bamako.
The Dutch Embassy in Mali agreed to contribute one million euros to construct the station.

Previously Malian exporters relied on air shipments of one to two tons, considerably smaller than the minimum 20-ton containers used for sea shipments. Air shipments are substantially cheaper to finance and much easier to organize logistically. For example, harvesting the increased tonnage (that is, one ton for air versus 20 tons for sea) of mangoes in one day requires additional conditioning standards. An additional 12 hours to pre-cool the mangoes increase the complexity of a sea shipment.

USAID, the World Bank, and CBI began to help Malian producers and exporters to improve their ability to respond to market demand. Mango exporters in Mali had previously been supply-oriented. They were slow to respond to new market requirements for quality. These international development agencies have focused on improving quality standards, orchard maintenance, post-harvest handling including identifying suppliers of harvest crates and shipping carton packaging, sorting and grading, certification, and developing a national traceability system.

They have also provided organizational development support to exporters, consolidators, and producers, who had to form legal cooperative entities as part of the certification process. Thus far one exporter in Mali is EurepGAP-certified and five more are in the final stages of certification.

With Mali now meeting the two pre-conditions, Ahold is conducting test shipments for 200 tons (ten containers) of mangoes for a minimum 2.5 euros per 4kg carton during the 2007 mango campaign (approximately April through June). To help ensure successful shipments, Ahold has contributed to this venture. Its logistical manager facilitated the transport arrangement, and its pack house manager is overseeing work at the PLAZA for mango grading, conditioning, cooling, and packing. In addition Ahold's pack house manager is mentoring Malian pack house managers and workers during this three-month shipping season.

Though early in the process, the outlook for mass export of Mali mangoes is positive. Three of the ten containers have been shipped for their approximately 13-day journey to the Netherlands and one has arrived. Two of the first three exporters who shipped their produce have achieved a 93% acceptance rate at the pack house. Mali is on its way to providing mangoes for one of the largest supermarket chains in Europe and the U.S., and may soon be exporting other tropical fruits and horticulture products from the PLAZA.

allafrica.com

Ban on Ghanaian mangoes to South Africa still in force

The ban on mangoes from Ghana in South Africa is still in place, said Dr. Braimah Harunah, a senior official of the Ghana's Crop Research Institute (CRI).

He said the ban, instituted in 2005, was due to the threat that the fruit fly posed to the mango industry in that country. The fruit fly lays eggs in the young mango fruit, the larvae then growing with the tree. Conducive weather conditions in South Africa would favour the spread of the fruit fly in that country.

"There is however an emerging market in the EU for which farmers needed to work hard to capture, since the fly can not grow in European temperate regions," Harunah said.

Dr. Harunah was speaking to about 150 mango farmers drawn from the Greater Accra, Volta, Eastern and the Brong Ahafo Regions who are attending a two-day workshop in Accra on the "Emerging Challenges in Contemporary Mango Plantation Management."

Harunah said out of 170,000 metric tones of mangoes valued at more than 200 million dollars imported into the European Union in 2004, Ghana's share was only 220 metric tonnes, representing only one percent. He advised the farmers to study the market and cultivate the varieties that the European market wanted such as the Champaign Mangoes since the demand for Keitt ('green mangoes') was waning.

Although Ghana was not among the top 40 mango exporters, the industry was pointing in the right direction and if more attention was given to that sector mango would become a major foreign exchange earner for the country, he added. He said this could be achieved if strategic measures were put in place to prevent diseases like mealy bug, Anthracnose, animal damage and destruction by fruit flies.

Harunah said CRI was liaising with Biotechnology, Nuclear and Agricultural Research Institute (BNARI) to find out if the mangoes could be radiated before being exported to ensure a longer shelf life.

My Joy

3700 Senegalese farmers join FAO organic/fair trade export project

by Chido Makunike

3700 Senegalese mango farmers are the latest members of a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)-organized project to encourage the export of organic and/or fair trade produce from Central and West Africa to Europe. Funded by the government of Germany, the FAO's Senegalese implementing partner is Agrecol-Afrique, an organization with many years of experience in training farmers in various aspects of sustainable agriculture.

Mango is an important dietary and export crop in Senegal. Many of the farmers have already been producing conventional mango for export as out-growers. With the signing on of Senegal early this year to the multi-country project, Agrecol-Afrique is now preparing them for organic production and fair trade. An Internal Control System (ICS) of organic standards is being employed and the plan is to export the first in-transition-to-organic crop towards the end of 2007.

The 3700 farmers are members of two farmer organizations in the Saint Louis area of northern Senegal, a fertile, growing export-horticulture area in the largely arid country. The current project areas cover a total of 50,000 mango trees, each of which is expected to produce 25 kilogrammes of produce per harvest.

Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana and Sierra Leone are the other countries involved in the project, with an emphasis on products with high demand in the European market, as well as with a good potential for high added value. Project partners are farmer groups, processors, exporters and importers, local NGOs, representatives from governments and the organic and fair trade movements. A participatory approach is being used and the project seeks to develop and strengthen long-term relationships between the African partners and importers in Europe.


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