Marula pests  (Northern Namibia)
Sclerocarya birrea
Marula (English)
  

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1. Marula Introduction

The marula tree is a highly appreciated tree in northern Namibia. Most of the year this huge tree provides blessed shade for farmers in the field, street vendors, large meetings and livestock. As an example, a large tree can easily provide pleasant shade for meetings of 100-200 people. 

In middle of the rainy season (i.e. February-March) the marula fruits begin to drop in large quantities and they are gathered under the tree every morning by women and children. The fruits are piled in large heaps under a shade tree and left to rest for some days until they ripen. 

The quantities are enormous. The quality and size of fruits vary considerably between trees. This must be considered when future improvement of production is planned. Farmers know very well which trees are of superior quality.
 

When the fruits are ready, a group of women sit and press out the pits from the fruits, squeeze out the juice into buckets and discard the peels. The pits are saved for later extraction of a very expensive and attractive oil that can be used for cooking or cosmetics. The main produce is the juice which is fermented into a very aromatic brew and consumed daily during the season. Some women are famous for their brewing skills and they are seldom short of visitors when the rumours spread that the new brew is ready

Women with ripe marula fruits

The fruits are also eaten raw by children and some adults. Marula fruits may be of vital nutritional importance as the production happens during the period where not much food is ready.

The marula brew is a quite potent alcoholic drink and quarelling and fighting can easily break out when men have been at the brew all day. In old days there was therefore a tradition in Uukwanyama that men must not carry the traditional knives during the marula season. The could still fight but the consequences would be limited.

Production of marula is being investigated in Israel and Australia in an attempt to diversify the fruit production in arid areas. In Namibia, little work was done on improving marula production and especially the processing, but recent work may lead to better utilization of the precious marula oil.
 

2. Marula pests

Little is known about pest of Marula in northern Namibia. The trees are often huge and one cannot easily see what goes on in the top of the tree. Most pests are therefore only noticed on lower branches or when the fruits drop to the ground and are collected.
 

42 Fruit fly 2 

54 Red marula caterpillar 

55 Marula beetle

106 Marula moth


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