Tr rellising Benef Yellow Pas g fits ssion Fr Far ruit rmers

Tr rellising is a simple, low, cos way to increase yields, st pre event dise ease, and reduce po ostharvest losses. t
With high market dem mand and goo climatic co od onditions, the potential e for yello ow passion fruit in K Kenyas Coa ast region is great. Unfortun nately, produc ction has bee uncompeti en itive due to p poor crop husbandr techniques inadequate access to quality seedlings, and ry s, e unreliable markets. e In respon USAID-K nse, KHCP has fac cilitated a pub blic-private pa artnership between Vision for E conomic Emp powerment i Africa (VEE in EMA) and the Ken nya Agricultu ural Researc Institute (KARI-Matu ch uga). The partnersh is workiing to impr hip rove the pro oduction, supply, and accessibil lity of clean planting ma aterial to farmers in Shim Hills, mba Kwale County. KARI-Matuga unde ertakes rapid vine multiplication to d produce certified see edling, and V VEEMA links smallholders to these seedlings. VEEMA als promotes simple, low so s w-cost techno ologies to improve yellow passio fruit produ on uction while linking farmers to new marketing opportunitiies. In the traditional m t method of p passion fruit farming, vin nes grow uncontro olled up a tre or shrub, a farmers h ee and have to climb the tree b to shake down the fr ruit. This results in a thic over-crow ck, wded crop where yields are low, pests and dis sease run ram mpant, and po ostharvest losses ab bound. To ad ddress this c challenge, VE EEMA is intro oducing a trellising system a s simple, low-cost innovatio made from bamboo on m and wire grid, which controls pe e ests and disea ases and ena ables easy harvestin It also ex ng. xtends the life of the cro to five or six years e op (tradition farming crops live less than t nal three years), thereby , increasing farmer prod ductivity and incomes. ly, were planting around 300 vines per acre on g Previousl farmers w shrubs or trees, prod ucing an aver rage of 1,200 kilograms pe season er valued at Ksh 24,000 ($300). Tre t 0 ellising has in ncreased the average vines pla anted per ac cre to 600, producing a average o 7,800 an of kilograms a season w s worth Ksh 156,000 ($1,9 950) an inc crease in sales of more than 6 percent. Through dem 600 monstration s sites and field days more than 200 farmers in Shimba H have ado s, Hills opted the trellising innovation, a VEEMA plans to help an addition 1,300 and p nal smallhold ders adopt im mproved techn nologies. pation of inc creased relia able production, juice pro ocessors In anticip such as Milly Fruit Pr M rocessors, Su unny Processo and Frigo ors oken are already providing new marketing o p w opportunities to farmers. F Frigoken, for instance, has sinc built a juic processing plant in the region ce ce g with the capacity to process 3,00 metric ton of fruit pe month 00 ns er bound fo the export markets. T or t This will prov vide a reliable market e and incre eased income for smallho es olders.

Phot by Fintrac Inc. to Veron Kalondu displays her harvest of yellow nica o passio fruit in Shimba Hills, Kwale Cou on a unty. She has embra aced the trellising technology on he farm and g er has se her yields mo than triple. een ore

Sin the inte nce erventions of USA AID-KHCP through VEEMA, P V the quality and quantity of d o yello passion fruit has greatly ow imp proved in Sh himba Hills s regi ion.
John Mutisya, Regiona Supervisor, Frigok Ltd, n al ken Shimb hills ba