Nutritionists and food technologists unanimously agree fruits are essential intakes for healthier living. Fruit-rich diets reduce risks of some cancers, strokes and other chronic diseases. They offer essential vitamins and mineral as well as fibres helpful for sound health. It is said that half of daily diets should include fruits and allied ingredients.
Nigerians believe and practise this. Fruits are sold in nearly every nook and cranny of the country. The worry is most fruits consumed are imported, a development that comes with several dangers.
Investigations revealed that most of the bananas consumed in Nigeria are from neighbouring Cameroon noted for its forest rains. Uganda, Tanzania and other East African nations also ship in large quantities of bananas. Nigeria’s burgeoning population and purchasing power make the market attractive for the commodity.
Apple, which is difficult to grow in the country is mostly from South Africa and neighbouring Benin Republic. They are openly displayed in stores, supermarkets and even public markets across the nation. Nigerians revel in purchasing the eye-catching fruit, which is perceived as classy.
Other fruits heavily imported into the country include orchards, celery, strawberry, peaches, spinach, grapes, bell peppers, blueberries, cucumber, runner beans and cabbage.
… In Nigeria with much pains
The imported fruits come in mainly through the sea and land borders. This is despite the fact that fruits are on the prohibition category of the Nigerian Customs website. A Customs official who craved anonymity said the commodities still find their way to the country despite the prohibition order.
According to him, “Many of the fruits come through bushes and illegal routes. We are trying our best but the truth is we are grossly overwhelmed. Despite our best efforts, the commodities still find their way in.”
It was gathered that some of the fruits spend weeks on the high seas under hygienic and refrigerated conditions. But the problem starts from when they arrive on the Nigerian shores. “When we take delivery, we cannot start distribution immediately. We have to contact our dealers across the country, which takes days. During this period, we have to apply preservatives to keep the fruits fresh because they are highly perishable. We then move them to dealers who get them across to the markets,” a fruit importer told our correspondent under strict anonymity.
Most of the imported fruits, it was discovered, have undergone several laboratory experiments in frantic bids to increase yields. Most supermarkets have ‘seedless’ fruits already engineered in laboratories in a scientific process known as ‘genetic modification’.
They become unsafe and dirty in the process though they eventually yield more for the producers and sellers. Also, the shipping procedures expose them to bacterial infection, which make the fruits harmful for consumption.
Salmonella, a bacterium that causes food poisoning and typhoid fever in humans or shigella, a bacterium that causes dysentery, is easily contacted in the process.
Pesticides, fungus and insect threats also force farmers to spray various chemicals on their orchards to improve and preserve production.
More dangers with fruit juices
But it is in the importation of concentrates for production of fruit juices that the nation loses much more. Nigerians take a lot of fruit juices, most of which are imported though the nation boasts of at least 14 local companies in the sub-sector listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina, said Nigerians spend $1 billion yearly importing fruit juice, a development he described as disheartening.
Nigeria consumes 50 per cent of the total volume of fruit juice sold in Africa, according to the Director General of Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC), Prof. Azikiwe Onwualu.
The ban on importation of fruit juices has boosted local manufacturing but concentrates are still mainly imported. The concentrates come through the same processes and routes as the imported fruits.
The country loses more foreign exchange and nutritional values with the gross import of concentrates for production of fruit juices.
Local fruits: Same of the same
Lettuces, potatoes and other vegetables are locally produced mainly in the North-Central states of Plateau and Benue. These local efforts are hampered by poor yields and environmental hazards. A local fruit seller agreed that most farmers in the North contend with insects, pests and poor storage facilities.
“You will notice that fruits have seasons. So, when it is the season of mangoes, for example, they just waste away because the farmers cannot store them. We can’t transport them immediately and suffer more losses,” Mrs. Adeola Sulaimon, stated. The long hours of moving the fruits to major markets in the cities also hasten the rottenness of the commodity, she said.
During off-season, the farmers and retailers are forced to induce the fruits to ripen by applying chemicals. Sulaimon confessed they are not left with much choice. “That is the only way to survive and meet growing demands. If you don’t apply the chemicals, you don’t get to sell anything,” she explained.
Dr Adamu Onu of Garki General Hospital Abuja, said the practice is dangerous and harmful to vital organs such as the liver. According to him, the ripening chemicals distort the natural taste and flavour of fruits.
An industrial chemist, Miss Ebere Nwachukwu, agrees. She said: “Ripening is the final stage of the maturation process; any attempt to force a fruit to ripe prematurely can destroy the natural ingredients in it.
“Calcium carbide absorbs moisture and produces acetylene, which is a weak analogue of ethylene, responsible for triggering ripening process.”
Headache, dizziness, mood disturbances, sleepiness, mental confusion, and memory loss, according to her, are some of the side-effects of consuming fruits with ripening chemicals.
The dilemma is how do you identify those that have gone through this process?
