The Mango Project : Upscaling Agricultural Technologies in Orchard Management

Kilifi county is the largest mango producer in Kenya,  accounting for 18% of the total mango production per season. An estimated 9,000 farmers grow conventional varieties like Kitovu, Mpunda and Boribo with an average yield of 300 and 800 fruits per tree. The targeted varieties – Apple and Ngowe, account for 39% and 17% of the national market respectively with improved yields of between 1,200 and 1,400 fruits per tree.

Mango production is significantly constrained by a variety of factors including insect pests that reduce yield directly by attacking crops, or indirectly by passing on viral diseases. Some of these insects are considered quarantine pests’ restrictions, resulting in the rejection of horticultural produce from Africa in export markets. In Kenya, most mango growers are smallholders who often lack access to effective pest and disease control tools, forcing them to rely on synthetic insecticides. Such products are often ineffective, as the pests eventually become resistant to them.

The “Upscaling Agricultural Technologies in Mango Orchard Management to Enhance Productivity and Incomes for Smallholder Farmers in Kilifi” aims at improving mango productivity and incomes for farmers in Kilifi County through the dissemination and upscaling of Integrated Pest Management technologies developed by ICIPE and KALRO which reduce yield losses and expenditure by the farmers and are also environmentally friendly and easy on the farmers’ health. The project targets 6,000 small-holder farmers from two (2) sub-counties; Kilifi North and Malindi. The farmers will be mobilized from six (6) wards; Jilore, Kakuyuni, Ganda, Dabaso, Matsangoni, and Tezo.

Using the Farmer Field School model, the IPM, CSA, and GAP technologies will be cascaded to the local level, with select mango champions facilitated with certified inputs and equipment, and IPM packages for mango orchard management.

Value addition is one of the projects’ top priority. It ensures the sustainability of the project for the foreseeable future. Farmers are able to hedge themselves from the risks of the market by preserving mango concentrate at KIRDI and other processing plants at a small fee. They can also choose to process it further into juice or other products. This increases the shelf-life from two (2) weeks up to a year. As a result, farmers are able to, during this period,  cushion themselves from adverse market movements.

The projects expected outcomes include the following;

• 8,000 farmers Indirectly reached by the project byQ4Y2
• 4,800 farmers reached by the project and adopting new technologies
• 1,200 people employed in Mango value chains by Q4Y2
• 2 climate-smart technologies adopted (crop rotation, inter-cropping) Q4Y2
• 500 acres of land under production of Mango Value chain Q4Y2
• 200 tons of raw mango fruit products marketed by project farmers byQ4Y2
• 9,000 of seedlings, scions, accessed by farmers / supplied to farmers by Q4 Y2
• Access to financial education and incentives and financial awareness in order to rejuvenate their financial roots.