KALRO gives avocado farmers reason to smile with the launch of new mobile app

KALRO Avocado Varieties

They include legume seeds, sweet potato vines, cassava cuttings and brachiaria splits, which are hard to find in local agrovets. Quality seeds are a prerequisite for achieving higher yields

KALRO certified seeds

"Hardy meat goats with potential for milk production. Does can reach 45kgs liveweight and bucks 60kgs. Capable of producing 1 litre of milk per day."

Dairy and Beef farming

Green gram (Vigna radiata) belonging to the Fabaceae family is an annual leguminous crop which is grown for its seeds, which are a high source of nutrients.

Green Gram Production

Camel Research and development in Kenya

For camels there are no organic guidelines and regulation, however the organic principles should be respected, kept and practiced.

KEMFRI Fishery Aquaculture

Aquaculture: Pathway to food security in Kenya...by Andrew Marriott and Odipo Osano

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Disseminate climate smart Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies for control of fruit fly and reduction of postharvest losses in avocados

Avocado is the leading export fruit in Kenya. The demand and the prices of the fruit both in export and local markets have been on the increase for a number of years now reaching 35/- and 20/- per fruit for export and local market respectively this year. In 2014, for example Kenya earned a total of 2.3 billion from export of avocado mainly in EU market. The rise of demand has been caused by realization of the health benefit as well as increased processing activities. However avocado value chain is facing various challenges which prevent realization of its full potential. Top among them is the fruit fly infestation at production stage which causes major losses at farm and post-harvest levels. The total loss is estimated to be as high as 30% at both levels. In addition fruit fly infestation affects market access of the crop since the pest is a quarantine pest. Besides fruit fly infestation farmers often harvest immature fruits which end up spoiling the market. Over the years KALRO has developed integrated pest management options which are environmentally friendly, for the control of fruit fly on avocado. These include: pheromone traps, field sanitation, use of attractants, and soft chemical. These technologies if disseminated to farmers would reduce infestation by at least 20%. In addition farmers would be trained on the appropriate maturity index which would ensure only mature fruits are marketed.  Sub activities include

  • Avail quality planting materials of avocado varieties developed by KALRO
  • Disseminate technologies for  avocado production developed by  KALRO
  • Capacity building on IPM and good agronomic practices (GAP)
  • Facilitate availability of inputs for IPM
  • Link farmers to markets and input suppliers
  • Establish and operationalise innovation platforms in value chain
  • Enhance value addition and job creation in the product value chain
  • Capacity building on collective marketing
  • Linkage of farmers to markets
  • Establish and operationalise innovation platforms in value chain
  • Enhance value addition and job creation in the product value chain
  • Promote farmer to farmer learning exchange tours