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AMURU - For the past two years, Jenipher Atim has ventured into mixed farming on her four-acre land in Omee II village, Acwera parish, Amuru Sub-County in Amuru District. 

Atim migrated from Apaa village following the numerous land wrangles between the Acholi in Amuru and the Madi from Adjumani District, finally acquiring land in Omee II. 

She has planted a number of fruit varieties including jackfruits, avocados, mangoes, pawpaw and bananas among others. She is also into apiary and horticulture. 

However, Atim says one item that has kept her financially stable over the years has been a unique variety of passion fruit known as the giant granadilla fruit that she has in her backyard. 

It is not known to many except those who have managed to either buy the fruit from her or got the seedlings which she has been distributing to some interested locals in the area. 

The plant bears oval-shaped fruits the size of a pawpaw and goes for between sh3000–sh5000 at the village market. 

Atim says she got the seeds from her grandfather while she was staying at her ancestral home in Otwal village in present-day Oyam District and that she has been carrying them with her wherever she moves to. 

As a way of protecting her precious fruit from vandalism and theft by locals in her area, she has decided to distribute seeds and seedlings to interested locals so they can plant in their own homes. 

The rare passion fruit

Atim says that the fruit not only has a wide range of health benefits to humans but also has a very attractive scent and can be either consumed straight off the vine or made in juice form. When consumed, the fruit is thought to help in curing maladies like headache, diarrhoea, asthma, nervousness and dysentery among others. 

She says the plant bears fruits four times a year with each plant earning her an average of sh300,000 per year and that it doesn’t require much attention in terms of weeding or other specialised agronomic practices. 

She plans to plant more on part of her four-acre piece of land. 

About the variety 

Giant granadilla fruit belongs to the passion fruit species and the binomial name for granadilla is passiflora quadrangularis. 

Large leaves hang from stems that are quadrangular in cross-section, hence its botanical name. It produces the most enormous fruits of all of the passion fruits. 

Although its origin still remains unclear to many, the fruit is believed to have originated from South America (likely Brazil). 

Other theories say the plant was first discovered in the Caribbean Islands and later naturalized in Southeast Asia and. many other countries.