In most parts of rural areas in Zimbabwe, it is common for small-scale farmers to discard over ripe bananas and other fruits such as mangoes and mulberries, or to just let them rot without any way to value-add to improve their livelihoods.
In the country's banana growing areas --Honde Valley, Chimanimani and Chipinge's extreme heat often causes bananas to ripen too quickly, resulting in heavy losses for the farmers who often struggle with markets and maintaining the chain for their produce to remain fresh.
A similar situation plays out in various parts of the country -- excess mulberries, tomatoes, mangoes, lemons, mazhanje, masau, sugarcane and other fruits going to waste.
Most of these rural farming districts often lack processing plants to add value and open new income streams for smallholder farmers who now bear the brunt of climate change.
Back-to-back droughts have led to widespread crop failures. Hunger and poverty has risen, forcing many to depend on food assistance from Government and other local and international agencies.
University of Zimbabwe researchers have found profitable use of excess bananas and mulberries that could help farmers survive, enhance resilience and adapt to the changing climatic conditions.
Wine making! Yes, wine making could become one of many coping mechanisms to improve their livelihoods through utilisation of other food crops such as bananas, mangoes, tomatoes, mulberries, mazhanje, masau, and others.
"We have made this banana wine from over ripe bananas we sourced from Honde Valley. The main reason we came up with this project to make banana wine is that we have realised that our farmers in Honde Valley suffer heavy losses when their bananas become over ripe. When their bananas get over ripe they throw them away," said Dr Enetia Bobo, a UZ Department of Biological Science and Ecology researcher at the just-ended UZ Research Innovation and Industrialisation Week event.
"So we are trying to capitalise on the over ripe bananas to come up with a banana wine. So what I have now is the prototype which we have tasted and given it to people to comment on. We have taken suggestions and so our next step is to commercialise this banana wine making project.
"Probably next year we will be having the product on our shelves. We started this banana wine making project last year in October."
The increasing frequency of droughts in Zimbabwe has shrunk crop yields in farming communities leaving them with few or no income streams for survival.
Once banana wine making is rolled out to these smallholder farming communities, new income streams from this could help drown their sorrows.
Other farming communities frustrated by repeated losses from droughts can also harness mulberries, commonly known as mahabhurosi to make wine and expand their livelihood options.
"Mulberry trees are quite common around the country, with many adults having childhood memories of eating muhabhurosi. Many children today still enjoy the seasonal burst of mahabhurosi," said Dr Masiyiwa Sakupwanya, another UZ Department of Biological Science and Ecology researcher, who has successfully made mulberry wine.
"Fermentation of the mulberry fruit results in a delicious wine, with a deep red colour and delicate flavours. To commercialise the process and standardise product quality, recipe development is an essential part of our research effort."
At the just-ended UZ Research Innovation and Industrialisation week held under the theme: "Promoting Innovation Ecosystems to Advance Value Chains for Zimbabwe's Industrialisation,' innovators displayed an array of prototypes to help find solutions to some of the country's pressing problems.
"We are aiming to develop a home-grown wine from mulberry fruit. We must bear in mind the most important factor -- land utilisation is the foundation of the fruit trees. For without the trees there will be no fruit to ferment and create a product ready to market," Dr Sakupwanya said.
"Capturing the imagination of farmers to begin sourcing mulberry planting stock and growing the trees also makes up part of the long term value proposition to develop a new home grown wine industry."
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
To build such an industry, he said this could involve investment and collaboration between various sectors.
"Many factors come into play when considering the establishment of a fine wine, and as a principal investigator in the project, I am excited to discover what lies ahead working with others to industrialise," Dr Sakupwanya said.
"As academics in the faculty of science at the University of Zimbabwe, we are tasked with developing innovative ideas suited for industrialisation as part of the Education 5.0 philosophy and National Developmental Strategies.
"This is a great responsibility which we all relish to strive to pursue through opportunities offered by the university."
The rise of banana and mulberry wine making will certainly be met with a toast from smallholder farmers and consumers.
Banana wine making does not require sophisticated equipment and winery production plants could easily be set up in most rural communities.
Local wine making can increase incomes earned by farmers and other value chain players.
