Seed for new plantings should be saved from perfect-flowered plants whenever possible. For fresh fruit, they are harvested just as yellowing commences. Fruits should be twisted gently, the harvester wearing cotton gloves so as not to bruise fruit surface. On trees where fruits are not crowded, fruits are cut off with a knife. Fruit should be placed directly in a picking tray that is well padded on sides and bottom with shredded paper or other soft material.
Papain is harvested, like opium, by tapping the unripe fruits.
The Same fruits are tapped in different cuts at weekly intervals. Tapped fruits are ultimately edible, so that both fruit and latex are harvested. She equates 1 kg crude papain with 5 kg fresh latex. A tree may bear 30-150 fruits per year, each weighing up to 9 kg. Previously Sri Lanka and presently Uganda and Tanzania are the principal producers of papain.