Consumers’ perceptions on indigenous fruit value-added products in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Abstract Most rural communities use indigenous fruits as an integral part of their diets by processing them into value-added products such as alcoholic beverages, jam, juice, and nuts/dried fruits. Despite the claim that these products are rich in vitamins and energy, they are still relatively underutilised due to their low availability at mainstream retailers. The data was collected from 384 participants in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga Province and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the consumers’ perceptions on indigenous fruit value-added products. Principal component analysis was applied, and the study results revealed that consumers preferred buying indigenous fruit value-added products over exotic fruit value-added products. Data on indigenous fruit value-added products’ market availability and accessibility was extracted and the data showed that they were perceived as important variables by consumers. Furthermore, consumers (96.4%) indicated that they would purchase marula fruit value-added products instead of other products (wild sour plum, orange monkey and wild medlar). Regarding access to indigenous value-added products, 24.7% of the participants strongly agreed and 27.6% agreed that they do have access. Therefore, it is recommended that interventions to create awareness and promote the sale and consumption of the indigenous fruit value-added products should be prioritised at events such as indigenous festivals, as well as at local retailers.