INDIGENOUS FRUIT PROJECT

The Namibian Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development (MAWRD), through its Directorate of Agricultural Research and Training (DART), and with assistance from the Namibian Agronomic Board (NAB) and CRIAA SA-DC, organised the Promotion of Indigenous Fruit Workshop on 17/18 April 2000, mandating the formation of the Indigenous Fruit Task Team (IFTT). It was recommended a national strategy for commercialisation of indigenous fruit and plantsbe implemented. To formulate the Strategy the Promotion of Indigenous Fruit (PIF) workshop recommended a combined "roadmap" and "checklist" for promoting indigenous botanical resources. A theoretical promotion strategy should analyse traditional, existing and potential uses of indigenous fruits;should conduct trials to identify potential processing technologies for, and products from, selected species; expand markets for successful products; build the capacity of harvesting communities to manage and sustainably use their resources; combine the financial and technical data generated into marketing plans; select high-yielding or otherwise desirable genotypes of species with commercial and cultivation potential and study their propagation, domestication and management and encourage growing of selected varieties with commercial potential; finally to use intellectual property rights (IPRs) to maximise benefits to producers.