By:Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
Most fruits consumed in Namibia such as apples, pears and bananas are seldom produced in the country.
Given this reality, over 90% of fruits consumed in Namibia are imported. This is according to a Baseline Study Regarding The Status Quo Of Fruits Production In Namibia.
The study was done by the Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) and was released in 2022.
Namibia imported N$385.2 million worth of fruits and nuts, including peeled citrus and melons, from the world in 2019/20, increasing from N$163,5 million in 2010.
While in 2017/2018 the country imported fruits worth about N$210 million in and N$209 million in 2018/2019, the NAB said.
The top three imported fruits were apples, bananas and oranges.
A sample size of 62 fruit producers, 27 traders, and 17 nurseries or seedlings suppliers were interviewed, and the data were analysed.
The analysis found that Namibia has an extremely low market share in the fruits domestic market, at a mere 4%.
A total value of about N$194 million in value of the top ten fruits was traded in Namibia over the last four years, of which only N$7,7 million (about 4%) is a value from local trade.
Based on the interviewed traders in this study, an average of 680 tonnes of fruits is purchased from local fruit producers per year in comparison to over 18 000 tonnes of fruits imported per year.
Oranges and grapes are some of the most supplied fruits from local producers over the period of three years, with grapes averaging 28,483 tons and slightly mangoes (81 tonnes).
NAB researchers revealed that the level of fruit production is still unclear in terms of hectares planted, the number and types of fruit trees, yields, etc.
The study results revealed that only 15% of the total land available for fruit production is currently under actual production and over 230,000 trees are grown over this land.
The researchers stated that the gap indicates a potential to grow more than 1.1 million trees on the remaining 85% of available land.
“More than 50% of the land is still available for fruit production, of which Karst and Zambezi have the largest land size available, with over 90% compared to what is currently under production,” wrote NAB researchers.
This is because overall total land sizes from all production zones, only 15% (1,168 hectares), is currently under production, whilst 85% (6,704 hectares) are unutilised although available.
The assessment also revealed that several various fruit tree seedlings have recently been imported into the country for commercial production, and yet there is a lack of information regarding Namibia’s current fruit production status.
In 2021, the country spent over N$77,1 million importing live trees, including fruit trees.
An average of over 41 000 fruit tree seedlings are imported into the country yearly whilst around 40,000 are being grown locally.
The highest number of fruit trees from the sampled respondents is grapes (over 59,000 vines), which are mostly grown in the South and Orange River production zones.
Orange trees are the second highest with about 29,000 trees of which the majority of orange trees are in the Karst production zone.
The next highest number of fruit trees grown in Namibia are mangoes (over 24 000 trees) which were recorded from the North Central production zone.
Regional wise the South and Orange River production zones recorded the highest number of fruit trees at 107,202 trees which are grown over an area of about 850 hectares.
Kavango production zone recorded the least number of fruit trees (9.034 trees) produced on a land size of 91 hectares.
At least 55% of the respondents (producers) indicated that they produce their fruits organically of which the highest number are producers in the Zambezi and North Central production zones.
Only 18% of the producers indicated strictly using chemical fertilisers for fruit production, whereas the remaining 27% use a mix of both chemical and organic fertilisers.
On average, however, the country imported more fruit tree seedlings (41,561 tree seedlings) compared to those grown or prepared locally (40,664 tree seedlings).
In terms of average price per fruit tree seedling, persimmons were found to be more expensive, costing about N$735.00 per seedling.
Overall, fruit tree seedlings that are grafted and imported cost much higher than those directly grown from seedlings locally.
Most of the fruit farmers in the country procure their seedlings directly from nurseries outside of Namibia, or otherwise from local nurseries that also import these seedlings from other countries. However, if one zoom in on the country’s fruits trade, Namibia is a net exporter of fruits, this is mainly due to the high production of table grapes that are targeted for export markets.
Namibia was the 20th country with high export growth in 2019, having exported about N$944,4 million worth of fruits and nuts, dominated by grapes, and slightly by mangoes.
South Africa accounted for 97% of the fruits and nuts imported by Namibia, whereas, 3% was imported from Spain, and the rest from Israel, Botswana, Zambia, China, Angola, Germany, Panama, Portugal, and Vietnam, the researchers found.
On average, China has been the fastest-growing worldwide import market for fruits and nuts for the last three years.
Nigeria and Senegal are the only African countries appearing in the top ten (10) world’s fast-growing import markets of fruits and nuts in terms of value, whereas Namibia is the 23rd country on the list of the world’s import-growing markets, the research found.
Email: erastus@thevillager.com.na
