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KALRO Avocado Varieties

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Dairy and Beef farming

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Green Gram Production

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Disseminate Cashew management technologies for enhanced cashew nut production in coastal Kenya

Cashew is the most important cash crop in coastal Kenya. It is grown in Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River Mombasa and Lamu Counties. The cashew nuts industry directly and indirectly employs 4000 and 50,000 people, respectively. In 2016, the area under cashew was estimated at 21,284 ha with a production of 11,404Mt valued at Kshs. 398,799,443. Kenya has an installed processing capacity of 45,000 tons/year raw cashew, which is way above production level. In 2015 the country exported 600 Mt of cashew kernels. The global demand for processed cashew nuts and its accompanying value added products is increasing steadily. The demand for fair trade and organic cashew is also on the increase. These nuts are in high demand in Germany and Nordic countries. Cashew is therefore a good crop for investment and development support. The cashew nut industry has suffered from a multitude of constraints - socio-economic, bio-physical and technical, which are directly or indirectly linked to production and marketing. Such problems have also affected the quantity and quality of nuts needed for processing. Marketing of cashew nut has been a problem particularly to the producers. It has often been the main factor for the increase and decline of the produce.

Cashew production has been an important income generating activity in coastal Kenya. Due to poor crop management practices, old unproductive orchards, inadequate quality planting materials, high post-harvest losses, prevalence of pests and other diseases and poor marketing infrastructure the production has declined drastically, thus reducing its economic importance. KALRO has developed various technologies addressing the above constraints with an aim to enhance cashew production in the coastal region. The proposed project focuses on up-scaling the management technologies in cashew nut production and hence positively contributes to increased agricultural revenues and food security for the farmers in the target region. This is in line with Kenya’s Vision 2030 goals of contributing to food security and improving welfare of Kenyan farmers. Sub-activities in focus will be:

  • Production of dissemination materials
  • Promote farmer access to and use of production inputs
  • Quality seed production for the released varieties
  • Capacity building on production, management, postharvest management
  • Organize growers into farmer Common Interest Groups (CIGs)
  • Capacity building on collective marketing
  • Linkage of farmers to markets
  • Dissemination of technologies through on-farm trials, demonstrations and field days
  • 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

Factsheets

  • Cashewnut Factsheets

Research Areas on Cashewnut powdery mildew disease

Development of a cashewnut powdery mildew disease resistant variety for enhanced cashew nut production in coastal Kenya

Cashew is the most important cash crop in coastal Kenya. It is grown in Kwale, Kilifi, Tana River, Mombasa and Lamu Counties. The cashew nuts industry directly and indirectly employs 4000 and 50,000 people, respectively. In 2016, the area under cashew was estimated at 21,284 ha with a production of 11,404Mt valued at Kshs. 398,799,443. Kenya has an installed processing capacity of 45,000 tons/year raw cashew, which is way above production level. In 2015 the country exported 600 Mt of cashew kernels. The global demand for processed cashew nuts and its accompanying value added products is increasing steadily. The demand for fair trade and organic cashew is also on the increase. These nuts are in high demand in Germany and Nordic countries. Cashew is therefore a good crop for investment and development support.

The most serious biological constraint in cashew nut production is cashew powdery mildew disease, (Oidium anacardii Noack). This is a fungal disease, which attacks young panicles and flowers, with consequent effect on the apple and the nut and may cause crop loss of 70 – 100%. This explains why mature cashew trees with potential to produce over 30 kg per tree annually are now producing less than 5 kg annually. One of the management practices that have been used to minimize the effect of the disease is use of resistant/tolerant varieties. In Kenya there are many cashew accessions from local collections and introductions from other countries. The collections have not been evaluated for resistance/tolerance to powdery mildew to identify suitable ones for dissemination to farmers. The proposed project will focus on addressing powdery mildew problem in cashew through development of resistant/tolerant varieties. Proposed sub-activities:

  • Screen for resistance/tolerance to cashew powdery mildew disease in cashew varieties in coastal Kenya
  • Recommend promising varieties for registration by KEPHIS
  • Develop an integrated pest management protocol for management of powdery mildew
  • Develop a protocol for rapid multiplication of disease free planting materials

Research on Tissue culture protocol

Development of a tissue culture protocol for rapid multiplication of cashewnut planting materials 

Another key constraint in cashew nut production is inadequate supply of quality planting materials. The current methods of propagation involve use of seed and grafted seedlings. These methods are slow and hence it is not easy to disseminate large quantities of planting materials required to revive the aging plantations. One of the techniques that could be used for rapid propagations of suitable varieties is tissue culture. However currently there is no tissue culture protocol for propagation of cashew. The project proposes to develop a tissue culture based protocol for rapid multiplication of cashew nut planting materials. The main aim is to improve cashew productivity and hence positively contribute to increased agricultural revenues and food security for the farmers in the target region. The following sub activity is proposed:

  • Laboratory evaluation and validation of propagation media for root and shoot regeneration
  • Evaluation of hardening media for tissue culture plantlets
  • Field testing (establishment) of tissue cultured plantlets
  • Registration and roll out of protocol