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Kenyan Cashew Farmers' Yields on the Rise
Cashew growers in Kenya's Coast Province are reporting increased yields and incomes as a result of technical assistance in tree management and disease control provided by Fintrac in partnership with the Cashew Technical Committee, comprised of public and private sector organizations and led by the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute's (KARI) coastal field station. To date, more than 100 Ministry of Agriculture extension workers and 5,000 cashew farmers have received training.
According to KARI research staff, average yields have already increased by at least three kilograms per tree. Some growers are seeing yields as high as 50 kilograms per tree, ten times the national average. During the next two years, Fintrac aims to help double both Kenyan cashew production and cashew farmers' incomes.
Some Fintrac farmer clients are already reaching this goal after just one year since the start of the cashew program. Amania Wangui Njoroge, a farmer in Lamu District, manages 160 cashew trees with the help of her family. She is a member of the Tewe Farmers Field School, one of 215 groups that are receiving Fintrac technical assistance. In 2004, Njoroge harvested 3,200 kilograms of raw nuts. Her production jumped to 6,395 kilograms in 2005 as a result of Fintrac training and technical assistance including proper pruning and controlling powdery mildew disease. Njoroge is now growing seedlings from her top producing trees to expand her own production and to sell to other growers in her area. With this increased income, she has been able to pay her land tax and is building a new house. The family is also diversifying its production beginning this year to include improved varieties of sweet potato and African Bird's Eye chili peppers.
"I had given up on my trees and was going to cut them down but I went to the Ministry of Agriculture training session and I learned how to prune, weed and manage my cashew orchard." Njoroge said. "I recorded double of what I used to harvest and I am grateful to the program because now I can put up a better house and meet other needs."
Cashew is one of the targeted crops under the USAID-funded Kenya Horticulture Development Project (KHDP) that is being implemented by Fintrac. Other priority crops include fresh and processed passion fruit, mango, chilli, vanilla, cut flowers, mangoes, and local market vegetables. When the project ends in September 2007, Fintrac will have helped 35,000 small farmers expand local and export sales by more than $50 million.
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