Malawian private tree seedlings developer diversifying more on fruit trees with California Papaya

It starts bearing fruit as young as this

* This variety is very commercially viable as it starts fruiting within 9 months of planting

* With proper husbandry one can get 90+ fruits per fruiting season per plant

By Duncan Mlanjira

Malawian passionate private tree seedlings developer, Mapopa William Banda, who diversified by raising fruit tree seedlings, has added high yield California Papaya (pawpaw), which is ready for sale.

He says the California papaya variety is very commercially viable as it starts fruiting within 9 months of planting and with proper husbandry one can get 90+ fruits per fruiting season per plant.

“One hectare can pack 500+ plants — meaning on average you may harvest around 39,000 fruits and if you sell at K500 each fruit, we are talking of K20 million on an imvestment of around K3 million on seedlings, labour, additives etc.

“Let’s curtail the importation of papayas that create exhobitant prices in supermarkets by producing our own in bulk and make them affordable to all and sundry,” he said.

This year, he is planning to produce over 8,000 seedlings — 4,500 in Blantyre and 3,500 in Lilongwe — and that 2,000 to be ready in Blantyre end of September at K1,500/plant.

In most supermarkets, papayas are very expensive as compared to local markets and tend to be more available as a seasonal crop because most farmers do not invest in cultivating this delicious fruit as a perennial crop.

In October last year, former Director of Public Prosecution, late Ishmael Wadi was highly praised and respected by the public when he revealed that he was diagnosed with a liver disease in 2009 and lived with it ever since — and he offered advice that he has been pursuaded and almost conclusively that papaya is the treatment for liver disease.

His post on Facebook attracted an avalanche of comfort and encouragement from the public for his courage to come in the open and declare that the papaya is an all-important fruit.

He said to understand the disease, he had to read a lot, which was much easier for him because lawyers — as demanded by their profession — read a lot.

“So, that’s how I found myself researching and collecting information on liver diseases,” he had written on Facebook. “I most significantly learnt that at acute stage, it is a must that one must stop all the eating but should instead drink a lot of water and maybe a tablespoon of glucose for sugar balance.

“But through trial and error, I came to discover that even in acute stage, there is something one can still eat and the liver receives it very well — it is papaya, preferably a very ripe one.

“In my experience as a patient, I am pursuaded and almost conclusive that papaya is the treatment for liver disease. I share with you this information because all hospitals I have been, I was told that liver disease has no cure but can only be managed through low protein and low fat diet, exercise regularly and have enough rest and in the worse case of cirrhosis, then the last option is a transplant.

“If you have liver issues, be it NAFLD or AFLD, eat Papaya and generally eat healthy food,” Wadi had said.

Meanwhile, Mapopa also has in stock 30 saplings of Malawian heritage tree, the Mulanje cedar.

He as a trial he planted 500 seeds and the 30 have survived the 15 months of care and “may as well go into the gardens of those who dare”.

“Whether you are a tree enthusiast or someone wanting to have some rare trees in your yard/garden, then your chance to partake in those feats is here.

“At K9,000 per sapling, you get hold of your prized tree sapling and pamper it to maturity.

“We also have budded rose plants — deep red, valentine red, white (iceberg), yellow, orange at K2,500/plant in Blantyre at CI. Contact us at 0997473355 phone/WhatsApp.”