1. Introduction
Food tree products, including fruits and nuts, contribute
substantially to income generation and food and nutrition security
of local communities. Fruit and nuts with their high contents in
vitamins and other nutrients are useful for diversification of
monotonous starchy staple-based diets. Fruit trees can provide
year round products for consumption and sale, if diverse sets of
species with different harvest times are cultivated on farms.
Objectives of the study:
a) To develop ‘fruit tree portfolios’ that provide fresh fruits to
farmer families and markets during the whole year.
b) To test if fruit tree portfolios can deliver fruits rich in vitamin C
and provitamin A year-round.
4. Conclusions and Way Forward
 Existing fruit tree diversity can be arranged in ‘fruit tree
portfolios’ for year-round supply of fresh fruits.
 Growing a minimum of eight fruit tree species per farm can
potentially supply vitamin-rich fruits during the whole year.
 Indigenous fruit species need to be promoted for cultivation,
and planting material should be made available to farmers.
 This study will help to develop ‘tailored’, site-specific
interventions for increasing production and consumption of
fruits to improve dietary diversity and nutrition of farming HHs.
Poster presented at the 2nd Hidden Hunger Conference, Stuttgart, Germany, 3-6 March 2015.
Figure 1: Map of the research are in Machakos County,
Eastern Kenya, showing AEZs and sample locations.
Figure 2: Farms with pawpaw and mango
trees in Machakos County, Eastern Kenya.
Figure 3: Fruits (above) and
young tree (right) of Van-
gueria madagascariensis. Figure 4: Young fruits of Azanza garckeana.
Legend
Sample
locations in:
LM3
LM4
UM3
UM4
LM4
UM4
UM3
LM3
Machakos
County
Can cultivation of ‘fruit tree portfolios’ contribute to farmer families’
year-round vitamin supply? Evidence from Eastern Kenya
Katja Kehlenbeck, Stepha McMullin, Ken Njogu, Parveen Anjarwalla, Esther Karanja-Kamau, Ramni Jamnadass
World Agroforestry Centre ICRAF, Tree Diversity, Domestication and Delivery, Nairobi, Kenya
Contact: K.Kehlenbeck@cgiar.org
2. Material and Methods
 300 households (HHs) were randomly selected in four agro-
ecological zones (AEZs) along an altitude and rainfall gradient
in Machakos County, Eastern Kenya (Fig. 1).
 HHs were interviewed on basic socio-economic data, food
insecurity periods and occurrence of fruit trees on farms.
 Focus group discussions were performed with four farmer groups
to identify harvest times of important fruit species.
 Vitamin C and provitamin A contents were assessed for each
fruit species (based on Tanzania Food Composition Tables, USDA National Nutrient Database).
 Harvest calendars and nutritional information were combined
to identify best species combinations for year-round fruit supply.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Basic farm and fruit tree species richness data
 Mean farm size was 1.4 ha and mean HH size 5 members.
 A total of 52 fruit tree species, including 26 indigenous and 26
exotic species, were documented.
 Most frequent species were mango (Fig. 2), occurring on 92% of
the farms, pawpaw (Fig. 2) on 65% and avocado on 54% of the
farms, all of exotic origin.
 Most frequent indigenous species were Vangueria mada-
gascariensis (present on 23% of the farms; Fig. 3) and Azanza
garckeana (22% presence; Fig. 4).
3.2 HH food security and fruit supply
 Households were most food insecure from
August to December with a peak in October,
(almost 80% of respondents were food insecure).
 A combination of different on-farm fruit species
could provide year-round harvest of different
fresh fruits (Fig. 5).
3.3 (Pro)vitamin-rich fruit species
Vitamin C
 Nine fruit species with moderate to very high
content (Fig. 5).
 Three species (pawpaw, orange/lemon and
desert date) could cover year-round supply.
Provitamin A
 Seven fruits with medium to very high content.
 Three species (pawpaw, waterberry and choco-
late berry; Fig. 6) could cover year-round supply.
3.4 Recommended fruit tree portfolio
On each of the farms, the following 8-13 fruit tree species should
be grown for ensuring supply to farmers’ families of fresh, nutrient-
rich fruits during the whole year:
 Pawpaw, mango, loquat, mulberry, waterberry, custard apple,
guava, white sapote, lemon, orange, chocolate berry, passion
fruit and desert date.
Figure 6: Fruits of waterberry
(Syzygium cuminii, left) and
fruits and leaves of chocolate
berry (Vitex doniana (species
very similar to Vitex payos),
right).
This research was funded by EC/IFAD under the project ‘Fruiting Africa’ from 2013-2015.
www. http://database.prota.org
Photo K. Kehlenbeck
Photo K. Kehlenbeck
Photo K. Kehlenbeck
Photo K. Kehlenbeck
Photos Ken Njogu
Figure 5: Food security
levels of 300 smallholder
HHs and the harvest
periods for the most
important exotic and
indigenous (in italics)
fruits.
Map Ken Njogu