“THE CONSUMPTION OF MANGOES IN EUROPE IS RISING”

BY DR. NIMROD

FACTOR 1 – QUALITY ISSUES The quality issues, which stop imports, resulting from mango growers and exporters’ inability to meet the EU’s phytosanitary regulatory requirements. According to the CBI, “Fresh mangoes must comply with the general requirements for fresh fruit and vegetables…” –Most African countries and their farmers (as most Asian and Latin American farmers) fail to stand up to the EU regulator’s high demands. Note that major EU supermarket chains have higher standards than those of the EU, making export to those chains an even more challenging task.  FACTOR 2 – PHYTOSANITARY &REGULATIONS “Pesticide residues are one of the crucial issues for fruit and vegetable suppliers. To avoid health and environmental risks, the European Union has set maximum residue levels (MRLs) for pesticides and other contaminants… Products exceeding the MRLs are withdrawn from the market.” “Mangoes are a high-risk fruit concerning fruit flies (Tephritidae). Therefore, a phytosanitary document is required for exporting mangoes to Europe and hydrothermal treatments prior to export are the standard.” »

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When we dig into the numbers, we see that fruit flies infest 50% to 80% of the mangoes grown in West Africa!

ACTOR 3 – UNPREDICTABLE SUPPLY

The high fruit fly infestation leaves out of the starting 1500K tons ONLY 300K to 750K tons as potential export.

At this point, we already get part of the answer for the low and unstable mango availability and limited supply.

More answers we get when we understand that it is nearly impossible to detect all infested fruits before exported. When you have 50% to 80% fruit fly infestation, be sure that some infested fruits will be packed and shipped, undetected, all the way to Europe.

Two to four weeks later, when infested fruits are intercepted in Europe, the entire consignment is destroyed. Hence, the sourcing country may go under Export Ban, further limiting the export possibilities.

The first to be harmed and lose their income are the farmers, exporters, and other value chain partners.

The fear of fruit fly infestation pushes farmers to spray more chemicals and harvest pre-maturely fruits before susceptible to fruit fly attack, but at the expense of a sub-optimal quality for export.

The result of repeated sprays are pesticide residues in the fruits, and the result of the too early harvest is “not so tasty fruits” and an abridged harvest season.

Note that this situation is not a result of careless fruit fly management or inadequate application.

From 2015 to 2019, the EU supported € 23.5 million in an area-wide fruit fly control project, the FFCP/PLMF, in West-Africa.

It is clear; fruit flies are simply ‘killing’ farmers, exporters, and the entire agri-industry in countries where they are not adequately managed.

DEAL BREAKER

While fruit flies are the root cause of the low volume of mangoes available in Europe, those are the regulator and market demands that dictate the quality requirements.

“Food safety and pesticide residues are a deal-breaker for supermarkets, while consumers buy mangoes based on price and appearance. Taste is not always the most direct concern, but consumers will not repeat their purchase after a bad experience.” »

THE CHALLENGE

Now we understand the inherent limitations of the mango supply to Europe and other developed markets, “Mangoes are commonly imported from developing countries. Finding a reliable supply is one of the major issues to maintain stability in the mango market.” »

In other words, finding a reliable supply source is the key to solving the problem presented at the beginning of this article;

“the mango consumption is mostly supply-driven and mainly influenced by external factors such as available volumes, quality…” ».

WHAT IF

Imagine, Europe is getting the supply of all of its mango demands. All are high-quality mangoes, free of sprays, and free of phytosanitary hazards, mainly free of fruit flies.

When this happens, we will see European mango annual consumption growing annually by 15%-20%. That translates into an extra of hundreds of million Euros of imported mangoes to the EU in the next five years.

Meaning, hundreds of thousands of extra tons of mangoes exported from emerging markets to Europe. As a result of that process, energizing the economies in the sourcing countries and positively influencing the lives of tens of thousands of farmers and many other people involved in the supply chain.

It only makes sense that a growing volume of mangoes will be sourced from an area close to the EU – from Africa – to fill the gap, resulting from the ever-increasing demand.

For Africa, or even more specifically, West Africa, to become a significant export area of mangoes to Europe, it has to deal with the three factors described above – meaning to solve two quality problems, which to this day have caused all attempts to grow its exports, to fail;

* Effective Fruit Fly Management – will enable to reduce infestation to <1%, from its current 50%-80%.

* Chemical/Spray Free Mangoes – that means reducing or eliminating insecticide sprays, including those for the control of fruit flies – from its current level (100% of the farms) to a majority free of insecticide sprays, having chemical residue-free fruits.

Well, how do we bridge the gap? How do we manage to pull up this challenge?

To cope with this typical situation to countries exporting mangoes, Biofeed has developed the Green Valley concept.

It is based on 30 years of knowledge and experience, including successful fieldwork in Africa and Asia.

As essential for the Green Valley success is that it act in light of a long term MISSION –

“To enable consumers to enjoy better and healthier food and life, while growing produce in a safe, eco-friendly environment, and improving farmers’ livelihood.”