Fruits
Senior 2 · Agriculture
Fruits
Lesson 1 of 5
16 min
Let's begin
Walk through a Rwandan market in any season and fruit is everywhere: avocados piled in baskets, passion fruit in woven bags, tree tomatoes, pineapples and oranges. Avocados and passion fruit are also flown and shipped to buyers abroad, and the government's export board promotes horticulture as a way to earn foreign currency.
A fruit tree can produce for twenty years or more from a single planting, on a small corner of a farm or along the edge of a terrace. This unit teaches you how to propagate fruit trees, manage an orchard and keep the harvest from going to waste.
| Fruit (Kinyarwanda) | Growth form | Where it does best |
|---|---|---|
| Avocado (avoka) | Tree | Mid-altitude areas across most of the country; needs well-drained soil |
| Passion fruit (marakuja) | Climber (vine) | Purple type in cooler mid to high altitudes; yellow type in warmer areas |
| Tree tomato (ibinyomoro) | Small tree or shrub | Cool, higher areas |
| Mango (umwembe) | Tree | Warm, lower areas such as parts of the Eastern Province and the Rusizi valley |
| Citrus: orange (icunga), mandarin, lemon | Tree | Warm, lower to mid altitudes |
| Pineapple (inanasi) | Herb | Warm areas with well-drained soils |
| Papaya, guava | Soft-stemmed tree; tree | Warm areas |
| Banana (dessert types) | Giant herb | Widespread |
| Strawberry, Cape gooseberry | Herb; small shrub | Cool highlands |
| Macadamia | Tree (nut) | Mid-altitude areas |
The pattern is simple: altitude controls temperature in Rwanda, and each fruit has a temperature range. Tropical fruits such as mango and pineapple prefer warm lowlands; fruits from cooler climates such as tree tomato and strawberry prefer the highlands.
Question: Suppose a mature grafted avocado tree gives 400 fruits a year and a trader pays 150 Frw per fruit. (a) What is the yearly income from one tree? (b) From 20 trees planted along terrace edges? (c) Give two benefits of these trees that are not counted in the money.
(a) 400 × 150 Frw = 60,000 Frw per tree per year.
(b) 20 × 60,000 = 1,200,000 Frw per year.
(c) Any two: the family eats nutritious fruit; roots hold the terrace edges against erosion; fallen leaves add organic matter; prunings give firewood; the trees give shade and act as windbreaks.
Note that the trees earn nothing for the first few years, so the farmer needs other income (for example beans intercropped between young trees) while they grow.
Tip
Memory hook: the importance of fruits is "FIVE-S": Food (vitamins), Income, Value-added industry and jobs, Export, Soil and environment.
Exam technique: when asked to "name fruits grown in Rwanda", give specific crops (avocado, passion fruit, tree tomato) rather than general words such as "citrus fruits" alone.
Define an orchard.
Solution: An area of land planted with fruit trees and managed for fruit production.
Give three ways in which fruit growing contributes to Rwanda's economy.
Solution: Any three: income for farmers from local sales; foreign currency from exports such as avocado and passion fruit; jobs in nurseries, transport and processing; raw materials for juice, wine and oil industries.
Explain why mango is common in the Eastern Province but rare on the slopes of the Virunga volcanoes.
Solution: Mango is a tropical fruit that needs warm temperatures. The Eastern Province is lower and warmer; the high volcanic slopes are too cool.
Name one climbing fruit crop and one herbaceous fruit crop grown in Rwanda.
Solution: Climber: passion fruit. Herbaceous: pineapple, banana or strawberry.
A farmer has 12 avocado trees, each giving 300 fruits sold at 100 Frw each. Find the yearly income.
Solution: 12 × 300 × 100 = 360,000 Frw.
Summary
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
