Since childhood, Loveness Bhitoni has collected fruit from the gigantic baobab trees surrounding her homestead in to add variety to the familyB次元官网网址檚 staple corn and millet diet. The 50-year-old Bhitoni never saw them as a source of cash, until now.

have decimated her crops. Meanwhile, the world has a growing appetite for the fruit of the drought-resistant baobab as a natural health food.

Bhitoni wakes before dawn to go foraging for baobab fruit, sometimes walking barefoot though hot, thorny landscapes with the risk of wildlife attacks. She gathers sacks of the hard-shelled fruit from the ancient trees and sells them on to industrial food processors or individual buyers from the city.

The baobab trade, which took root in her area in 2018, would previously supplement things like childrenB次元官网网址檚 school fees and clothing for locals of the small town of Kotwa in northeastern Zimbabwe. Now, itB次元官网网址檚 a matter of survival following in southern Africa, worsened by the El Ni帽o weather phenomenon.

B次元官网网址淲e are only able to buy corn and salt,B次元官网网址� Bhitoni said after a long dayB次元官网网址檚 harvest. B次元官网网址淐ooking oil is a luxury because the money is simply not enough. Sometimes I spend a month without buying a bar of soap. I canB次元官网网址檛 even talk of school fees or childrenB次元官网网址檚 clothes.B次元官网网址�

The global market for baobab products has spiked, turning rural African areas with an abundance of the trees into source markets. The trees, known for surviving even under severe conditions like drought or fire, need more than 20 years to start producing fruit and arenB次元官网网址檛 cultivated but foraged.

Tens of thousands of rural people like Bhitoni have emerged to feed the need. The African Baobab Alliance, with members across the continentB次元官网网址檚 baobab producing countries, projects that more than 1 million rural African women could reap economic benefits from the fruit, which remains fresh for long periods because of its thick shell.

The allianceB次元官网网址檚 members train locals on food safety. They also encourage people to collect the fruit, which can grow to 8 inches (20 centimeters) wide and 21 inches (53 centimeters) long, from the ground rather than the hazardous work of climbing the enormous, thick-trunked trees. Many, especially men, still do, however.

Native to the African continent, the baobab is known as the B次元官网网址渢ree of lifeB次元官网网址� for its resilience and is found from South Africa to Kenya to Sudan and Senegal. Zimbabwe has about 5 million of the trees, according to Zimtrade, a government export agency.

But the baobabB次元官网网址檚 health benefits long went unnoticed elsewhere.

Gus Le Breton, a pioneer of the industry, remembers the early days.

B次元官网网址淏aobab did not develop into a globally traded and known superfood by accident,B次元官网网址� said Le Breton, recalling years of regulatory, safety and toxicology testing to convince authorities in the European Union and United States to approve it.

B次元官网网址淚t was ridiculous because the baobab fruit has been consumed in Africa safely for thousands and thousands of years,B次元官网网址� said Le Breton, an ethnobotanist specializing in African plants used for food and medicine.

Studies have shown that the baobab fruit has several health benefits as an antioxidant, and a source of vitamin C and essential minerals such as zinc, potassium and magnesium.

The U.S. legalized the import of baobab powder as a food and beverage ingredient in 2009, a year after the EU. But getting foreign taste buds to accept the sharp, tart-like taste took repeated trips to Western and Asian countries.

B次元官网网址淣o one had ever heard of it, they didnB次元官网网址檛 know how to pronounce its name. It took us a long time,B次元官网网址� Le Breton said. The tree is pronounced BAY-uh-bab.

Together with China, the U.S. and Europe now account for baobab powderB次元官网网址檚 biggest markets. The Dutch governmentB次元官网网址檚 Center for the Promotion of Imports says the global market could reach $10 billion by 2027. Le Breton says his association projects a 200% growth in global demand between 2025 and 2030, and is also looking at increasing consumption among AfricaB次元官网网址檚 increasingly health-conscious urbanites.

Companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi have opened product lines promoting baobab ingredients. In Europe, the powder is hyped by some as having B次元官网网址渞eal star qualitiesB次元官网网址� and is used to flavor beverages, cereals, yogurt, snack bars and other items.

A packet of a kilogram (2.2 pound) of baobab powder sells for around 27 euros (about $30) in Germany. In the United Kingdom, a 100-milliliter (3.38-ounce) bottle of baobab beauty oil can fetch 25 pounds (about $33).

The growing industry is on display at a processing plant in Zimbabwe, where baobab pulp is bagged separately from the seeds. Each bag has a tag tracing it to the harvester who sold it. Outside the factory, the hard shells are turned into biochar, an ash given to farmers for free to make organic compost.

Harvesters like Bhitoni say they can only dream of affording the commercial products the fruit becomes. She earns 17 cents for every kilogram of the fruit and she can spend up to eight hours a day walking through the sunbaked savanna. She has exhausted the trees nearby.

B次元官网网址淭he fruit is in demand, but the trees did not produce much this year, so sometimes I return without filling up a single sack,B次元官网网址� Bhitoni said. B次元官网网址淚 need five sacks to get enough money to buy a 10-kilogram (22-pound) packet of cornmeal.B次元官网网址�

Some individual buyers who feed a growing market for the powder in ZimbabweB次元官网网址檚 urban areas prey on residentsB次元官网网址� drought-induced hunger, offering cornmeal in exchange for seven 20-liter (around 4-gallon) buckets of cracked fruit, she said.

B次元官网网址淧eople have no choice because they have nothing,B次元官网网址� said Kingstone Shero, the local councilor. B次元官网网址淭he buyers are imposing prices on us and we donB次元官网网址檛 have the capacity to resist because of hunger.B次元官网网址�

Le Breton sees better prices ahead as the market expands.

B次元官网网址淚 think that the market has grown significantly, (but) I donB次元官网网址檛 think it has grown exponentially. ItB次元官网网址檚 been fairly steady growth,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 believe at some point that it will increase in value as well. And at that point, then I think that the harvesters will really start to be earning some serious income from the harvesting and sale of this really truly remarkable fruit.B次元官网网址�.

Zimtrade, the government export agency, has lamented the low prices paid to baobab pickers and says itB次元官网网址檚 looking at partnering with rural women to set up processing plants.

The difficult situation is likely to continue due to a lack of negotiating power by fruit pickers, some of them children, said Prosper Chitambara, a development economist based in ZimbabweB次元官网网址檚 capital, Harare.

On a recent day, Bhitoni walked from one baobab tree to the next. She carefully examined each fruit before leaving the smaller ones for wild animals such as baboons and elephants to eat B次元官网网址� an age-old tradition.

B次元官网网址淚t is tough work, but the buyers donB次元官网网址檛 even understand this when we ask them to increase prices,B次元官网网址� she said.