Description

Mangoes are juicy stone fruit (drupe) from numerous species of tropical trees belonging to the flowering plant genus Mangifera, cultivated mostly for their edible fruit.

The majority of these species are found in nature as wild mangoes. The genus belongs to the cashew family Anacardiaceae.

Mango is native to South Asia and is known as the king of fruits. It is one of the most popular tropical fruits in the world. It is an important export commodity as it earns about $24 million annually.

The mango is known as the ‘king of fruit’ throughout the world. The name ‘mango’ is derived from the Tamil word ‘mangkay’ or ‘man-gay’. Over the years the demand for mangoes arising from the quest for better health amongst Europeans and the non-alcoholic dietary of middle-east and Arab nationals, has been on the increase.

Mangoes are grown in eighty-five (85) countries and sixty-three (63) countries with over twenty million (20,000,000) metric tons of mangos grown throughout the tropical and sub-tropical world, with developing countries accounting for about ninety-eight percent (98%) of total production.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2015, Nigeria produced eight hundred and fifty thousand (850,000) tonnes of mango. The main producing states in the country include Benue, Jigawa, Plateau, Yobe, kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, Sokoto, Adamawa, Taraba and FCT.

Every part of the mango is beneficial and has been utilized in folk remedies in some form or another. Whether the bark, leaves, skin or pit; all have been concocted into various types of treatments or preventatives down through the centuries.

Mangoes have been classified into such wide known types as Alphonso, Amelia, Apple Haden, Kent, Ruby and Julie. Findings indicate that all the types thrive and yield highly under the prevalent agricultural and climatic conditions of Nigeria.

Mangoes are grown abundantly in many parts of Nigeria but most of these fruits are lost after harvesting. To reduce post-harvest losses of mango, the products would be processed into mango chips with drying.

Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized because of its sweet taste, nutritive value, and long shelf life.

Today, dried fruit consumption is widespread. Nearly half of the dried fruits sold are raisins, followed by dates, prunes, figs, apricots, peaches, apples and pears.

These are referred to as “conventional” or “traditional” dried fruits: fruits that have been dried in the sun or in heated wind tunnel dryers. Many fruits such as cranberries, blueberries, cherries, strawberries and mango are infused with a sweetener (e.g. sucrose syrup) prior to drying. Some products sold as dried fruit, like papaya, kiwi fruit and pineapple are most often candied fruit.

Dried fruits retain most of the nutritional value of fresh fruits.The specific nutrient content of the different dried fruits reflects their fresh counterpart and the processing method.

This report seeks to examine the financial viability or otherwise of producing mango chips from fresh mango in Nigeria.

Mango chips are dried mango is a dried form of the mango fruit, which comes from the mango tree, bearing the scientific name Mangifera indica. The fruits are dried naturally or dehydrated and are then exported around the world, maintaining a much longer shelf life once all of the water has been removed. Dried mango is one of the most popular types of dried fruit.

Dried mango possesses a number of beneficial nutrients, including vitamin A that regulates metabolism, calcium, and iron, as well as a minimal amount of vitamin C – far less than is found in a fresh mango. During the drying process, water-soluble vitamins like vitamin C are lost.

These fruits also contain about two (2) grams of fiber in a 1/3-cup serving, as well as roughly thirty (30) grams of sugar. A single serving of these sugar-dense fruits will also deliver about one hundred and sixty (160) calories.

The proposed production volume is five hundred (500) kilogrammes per hour of fresh mangoes and the plant would operate at eighty percent (80%) of the installed capacity for a triple shift of eight (8) hours per day for three hundred (300) working days per annum.