PROMOTING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES FOR BETTER LIVELIHOOD, A WAY OF REVIVING THE HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY IN AFRICA

BY: THEOPHILUS ZOTTORGLOH.   

Horticulture is a very diverse sector, it can be grouped in to two broad sections – ornamental and edibles and further categorized in to: floriculture which is the production and marketing of floral crops; Olericulture which includes the production and marketing of vegetables; Pomology which refers to the production and marketing of fruits.

Economic importance of horticulture in Africa

There is an increasing local and international demand for horticultural products. There is equally a dramatic growth in the horticulture production. For instance, the world production of fruits and vegetables surpassed 2 billion MT in 2007. In Africa, the production of vegetables alone reached more than13 million MT in 2007. In addition, the total volume traded in fruits and vegetables increased fivefold during 1961 – 2001 from 24 million to 125 million MT according to the 2007 World Development Report. Indeed, fruits and vegetables has become the most important horticultural produce on the international market. Trade in fruits and vegetables represents almost 80 percent of the world horticulture market according to the World Development Report (Reshaping economic geography, 2009). Also according to Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the value of all fruits and vegetables traded globally is more than double the same for cereals.

In Africa, Kenya and Cote d’ Ivoire are some of the leading horticultural producers and exporters. In 2000 Kenya was the single largest supplier of green beans and Cote d’ Ivoire was the second largest supplier of green onions and shallots to the EU. Nigeria is among the top 10 producers of fresh fruits in the world with 1,084,000 MT in 2007, according to FAO statistics. Over the last five years hot pepper exports from Ghana have been increasing to Europe but in the overall hot pepper export market, competition is fierce with many countries supplying various species of hot pepper to all major markets world wide (MoFA/SRID,2009).

Although the market is small, demand for individual types of pepper has been traditionally tied to the ethnicity of consumers. For example Asians in the UK prefer green cayenne types of hot chilli and red scotch bonnet types of hot pepper, whilst the Dutch Surinamese consumers prefer yellow hot peppers. Germany imports mostly “Turkish” types demanded by large Turkish immigrant community. EU suppliers mostly the Netherlands and Spain provide over 50% of demand by UK while various Africans countries (Ghana, Uganda, and Gambia), the Caribbean and Latin America suppliers make up the balance (ADC, 2OO1).

Annual consumption of hot pepper in Ghana is known to have increased from 43,000 metric tonnes in 1987 to 100,000 metric tonnes in 1992. Its demand on the export market has also increased from 350 metric tonnes in 1994 to 1,185metric tonnes in 1996 (Gadri-Darrah, 2008). Currently there is a considerable drop in the export trend of chilli pepper from 5,281 metric tonnes in 2001 to 44 metric tonnes in 2008. (MoFA/SRID, 2009).

Farmers in Ghana in their attempt to capitalize on the export market in UK and US are faced with a myriad of problems such as a lack of high quality seed for cultivation (Bobbie, 2009). If farmers want to obtain uniform characteristics in the hot pepper they produce then, particular attention needs to be paid to the type and quality of hot pepper seeds used for cultivation, be it farmer saved seeds or seeds purchased from certified seed producers (Adu-Twumwaah, 2008).

Contribution to Income and Food Security

Urban agriculture if well developed in many African countries can provide fresh fruit and vegetables products to city dwellers value addition to most horticultural crops generates employment especially in the agro-processing sector. In Benin the income generated per unit of area for the production of African lettuce is higher the same generated for maize.

Lack of information: information is inadequate lacking coordination and management. For instance, market information on prices, quantities, qualities, distribution systems, standards, and regulations can be better shared and managed. When information is available, it is either dispersed or poorly accessible or not well packaged for the appropriate target group. A number of databases are available on production, yield, peat management and prospects. However, they have limited accessibility and scope. There is also limited capacity in compliance to marketing particularly so in developing countries. This is coupled with inadequate knowledge of the market and an education system not fully in accord with consumer’s needs. Infrastructural gaps such as scarcity of cold storage and processing centers, well organized wholesale markets, lack of value addition processing are some of the well known obstacles to export of horticultural products. The poor quality of plating materials due to lack of adequate capacity in management of nurseries and the in sufficient awareness of horticultural nutritional and medicinal values are other impediments to the sector.

THE WAY FORWARD

Value chain addition is a necessary good to entrepreneurship. The mindset of horticulturist in to entrepreneurship is a key challenge because the production of perishable plant products must be time linked to a market whether it is local, regional or international. The focus should be on the development of an efficient market information collection and sharing mechanism, the set op of innovative market structure, post harvest management and value addition technologies and, the identification of market development policy gaps.

Policy development is necessary for a smooth growth of the horticultural sector. The need to revise national policies on horticulture is therefore necessary, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture should provide information on appropriate planting materials and varieties to be grown, the agronomic practices required, acceptable methods of harvesting, handling and appropriate storage techniques through improved extension services using publications, radio and TV discussions among others also available information on output supply, surplus areas, price tends and new products on demand for informed business decision making. Further, collaboration with the Ministry of Trade will collect and disseminate information on agricultural commodities in demand in the West African sub-region and the rest of the international market. Specific information on requirements in respect of European and U.S. markets under AGOA should be provided to promote exports.

Knowledge management on indigenous fruits from Africa is long overdue. Black plum (Vitex payos), a popular fruit in Kenya and Ghana, Ximenia american also a popular fruit in northern Benin, African grape (Lannea microcarpa) another popular fruit from Burkina Faso are still been collected from the wild with little effort towards domestication, utilization and marketing.

The price of many agricultural commodities rose more than 25% from June 2010 to December 2010, according to a recent World Bank study. There are several reasons that the report is alarming. The first is that there is a net increase of 44 million people who have been pushed into poverty because of the increase in price of commodities. Relief for these people and others who may join them will not occur until global HORTICULTURAL yields improve and the price of agricultural commodities begins to ease.