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The Project: “Enhancing climate resilience and nutrition uptake through value addition to the mango fruit in Kitui County” was implemented in 2014 in collaboration with Green Africa Foundation with support from the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) under the Applied Research in
The project aimed at enhancing the resilience of the dry land communities in Kitui County through increased income earned from mango fruits. This was achieved
In this sense, the project contributed to reinforcing food security in the arid and semi-arid lands and enhancing the nutrition value of the local staple food, which is mainly based on cassava, sorghum, millet and maize.
The purpose of the project was to improve value addition of the mango fruit through mango powder technology with the specific outputs being:
- Mango powder technology introduced and disseminated
- Capacity building of women groups on mango powder processing and marketing
- Awareness
on mango powder products and nutritional value created - Improved value chain management for mango fruits
KEY ACTIVITIES IMPLEMENTED INCLUDED:
- Mobilization of mango farmer groups and identification of pilot plant sites
- Socio-economic baseline survey
- Installation of Pilot Plants and Training on the Drying Technology
- Project inception workshop
- Installation of pilot plants and training on the drying technology
- Private sector engagement
- Production of samples and
first batch of fortified flour - Packaging and branding
- Product promotion
- Production of samples and
- Training of 600 farmers on best practices of mango production in 3 sub-counties of Kitui and provision of grafted seedlings to farmers.
- Monitoring and Evaluation
PROJECT ACHIEVEMENTS
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MANGO POWDERING TECHNOLOGY
NETFUND was to procure the Refractance® technology developed by
INSTALLATION OF THE MANGO PROCESSING PLANTS AND TRAINING ON THE POWDERING TECHNOLOGY
Prior to the installation, the project implementation team carried out a
The 3 pilot plants were successfully set up
PRODUCTION OF SAMPLES AND FIRST BATCH OF FORTIFIED FLOUR
NETFUND oversaw the production of first samples of powder and the first batch of fortified flours. The production process followed standard operating procedure and formula developed in collaboration with food technologists from the Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI). Different types of fortified flours were produced i.e. fortified maize, sorghum, millet and cassava flours.
The purpose of producing the first powder samples and fortified flour was to subject them to analytical tests with the aim of establishing their physical and chemical properties as well as
TRAINING OF FARMERS ON BEST PRACTICES OF MANGO FARMING
NETFUND sought to build the capacity of the mango farmers on mango value chain management by designing and training them on best practices of mango production.
The training involved the development of a Training Mango Booklet and a Mango Farm Spray Programme followed by practical and demonstrative
The project has attracted additional donor interest from the Embassy of Sweden and Slovakia which have so far supported scale up of the processing plants and refinement of the products.
The project has given the mango farmers in Kitui County greater latitude in marketing their produce by eliminating dependence on the mango fruit’s natural lifecycle. In addition, the project has contributed to enhancing food security in the region by making the seasonal mango fruit and its products available for consumption throughout the year.
The project has therefore presented an opportunity for building resilience to the impacts of climate change, nutritional uptake and alleviating poverty among the local population.