FRUITING AFRICA PROJECT

Activities and achievements informing the

Food Trees project

Erick Ngethe Project ManagerFood trees project

Overview of the presentation

• About the Fruiting Africa project

• Activities and achievements

• Partnerships with different stakeholders

• The Food trees project

• Project outputs and work package activities

Fruiting Africa Project• The project was implemented by World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)

with funding from EC/ IFAD

• Implementation period January 2014 – August 2016

• The project activities were coordinated from ICRAF’s Headquarter and are focused on various target groups in Kenya (Eastern and Western Kenya)

Project goal

Reduce rural poverty in Kenya by promoting wealth and health of poor farming communities through enhanced cultivation, processing,

marketing and use of a diversity of fruit and nut trees.

Project main objective

Contribute to the transition of small-scale farming systems from subsistence farming to intensified semi-commercial farming of fruit and nut trees and of small-scale private or community tree nurseries and micro-processors to more business-oriented and profitable enterprises.

Project research areas

Project Design

o Project used a mixed methods approach for data collectiono Sampling was stratified along a climatic gradient (Agro-ecological zones)o Three categories of responses was sought from:

• One category of fruit producer groups (FRUIT) • One category of groups focusing on hygiene and water (WASH) • One category not belonging to either (Control)

o Baselines conducted: On-farm diversity and production and socio-economic data, household/individual dietary diversity, and Value chain analysis

Target groups Small scale farmers Resource poor households Small scale agribusiness ventures (operating within the food trees industry) Women Children

Output 1: Analyse the status quo of the whole fruit sector and to document potentials/challenges to develop impact-oriented interventions and site-specific fruit tree portfolios

Output 2: Provide farmers with access to high quality fruit tree planting material by establishing sustainable, decentralized seedling supply systems (through the ‘Rural Resource Centre’ model).

Rural Resource Centre in Western Kenya…

… and several decentralized satellite nurseries

established.

Output 3: Develop and disseminate knowledge and knowledge materials on improved fruit tree propagation and on-farm tree management techniques.

Provided hands-on training for nursery operators and farmers (both on-site and off-site trainings)

Output 4: Build capacity of fruit producers and micro-processors on fruit post-harvest technologies, value adding, marketing and business skills.

Aim:…to understand the structure and factors which affect economic and non-economic incentives for value players to invest (or not) in quality supply chains of mangoes

Value Chain Analysis : Marketing routes

Output 5: Increase awareness on the health benefits of regular fruit consumption

a. Shamba Shape Up episode development on utilization of Baobab fruit pulp for its rich supply of Vitamin C

b. Talking Walls reminding pupils of the importance of eating a healthy diet

c. Nutrition training for mothers on preparation of healthy diet meals

(a)

(b)

(c)

Partnerships

Fruiting Africa Project partnered with National Agricultural Research Centres, Agencies, Universities and Development Organizations to undertake project activities in Kenya

Research side Dissemination side

Lessons learnt Drought was a major hindrance to most of the project’s interventions success Very limited knowledge and awareness on the health benefits of regular fruit

consumption Lack of quality fruit tree planting materials due to lack of efficient supply systems

(nurseries), poor variety identification and record keeping Low on-farm tree productivity due to poor farming practices and lack of on-farm

tree management techniques (and aging trees – Mangoes) High levels of fruits post-harvest losses due to lack of/ limited processing

equipment and means, pest and diseases and poor harvesting techniques, and Low capacity among the farming groups to maintain/ sustain their operations

The Food trees Project

The project overall goal is to harness the contributions of agroforestry and food trees for improving nutrition directly through increased availability and consumption of nutrient-rich foods and indirectly through the diversification of livelihood opportunities for smallholder farmers to attain long-term, inter-generational benefits for communities.

Project Goal

Project Objectives

• Promote diversified and resilient farming systems incorporating suitable food trees for year-round production of high value tree foods

• Contribute to diversifying prevailing staple-based diets with nutrient-dense tree foods for improved nutrition and health and increased awareness;

• Contribute to diversified income options through food tree production and nutrition-sensitive processing enterprises;

• Empowered women as change agents for their households’ food and nutrition outcomes;

• Strengthened capacity of local and national partners; and• Delivery of sound research outputs, findings, case studies, and recommendations to a

wider audience

Project research sites

Actual location of the research site

About a 150 HH randomly sampled with the help of the area chief for baselines survey

Planned activities and outputs

Output 1.0: Short and long nutrition-sensitive food tree product value chains within smallholder farming and food systems documented and bottlenecks identified.

Activities:- Perform a baseline study of 600 households (HH) in Kenya (basic socio-economic

household/farm data, and on agricultural input supply, food tree occurrence, food production and gender- and age-disaggregated consumption)

- Identify consumption/nutritional gaps and evaluate consumption of home-grown food, food procured from local food systems (e.g. exchange between neighbors) versus food purchased from the local food markets.

- Perform a nutrient-sensitive food tree species priority setting with smallholder farmers and other key stakeholders addressing seasonal hunger and nutrition gaps within site specific existing farming systems.

- Develop decision support tools with national agricultural organisations to help extension agents and implementing among others

Output 2.0: An Empowering Future Farmers school and community programme implemented in target sites, Seeds of Nutrition Kits distributed and nutrition and agroforestry information and skills disseminated.

Activities:- Facilitate the development of a campaign templates for Empowering Future

Farmers in schools and communities campaign and design social and culturally relevant IEC tools produced in vernacular languages for widespread use

- Seeds of Nutrition Kits seed content devised based on priority, suitability and optimum species matrix (diversity and density) – to include food tree and crop portfolios.

- Develop suitable tree planting and regeneration information and complementary nutrition and health information leaflets in vernacular language for dissemination with Seeds of Nutrition Kits.

- Develop and undertake an impact evaluation on the campaigns, the content and the preference for the IEC tools used.

- Assess behavior change as a result of project activities based on i. nutrition and consumption patterns of nutritious foods (dietary

diversity score), and on the ii. knowledge and benefits of nutrition and agroforestry practices for

long-term nutrition and livelihood outcomes.

Output 3.0: Agroforestry-Nutrition Innovation Hubs established and innovative IEC tools developed and used for training and dissemination of agroforestry and nutrition information to reach wider audiences.

Activities: - Undertake a capacity needs assessment of farming communities to inform the

development of the AF-N Innovation Hubs- Establish AF-N Innovation Hubs as IEC and training centres for distributing IEC

materials for agroforestry, nutrition, nutrient-sensitive food tree and crop portfolios and enterprise development.

- Collaborate with NARS and development partners to facilitate seed and seedling distribution through the centres of excellence agroforestry learning

- Identify suitable ICT platform partner and establish the database of participating farmers and project associated information

- Facilitate M & E data collection through regular polling initiatives

Output 4.0 Value added novel food tree product developed and capacity of national partner agents strengthened via advanced training in nutrition-sensitive food tree product value chains.

Activities:- Explore the potential of relatively new processing technologies such as

fruit leather and dried fruits for further product development.- Evaluate the needs of the private sector by using key informant

interviews to identify the comparative market space for food tree products and the demand

- Develop training materials and, in collaboration with partners, support the training of actors along the value chain on business model and enterprise development and evaluate different training methods for identifying the most suitable approach.

- Facilitate the holding of business partnership forums, including a trade fair for food tree producers, micro-processors, private sector and micro-finance institutions.

Project expected outcomesand

Thank You