Fruit consumption and production: habits, preferences and attitudes of rural households in Western Kenya
Currently, fruit consumption in Eastern Africa is far below recommended allowances and has implications for micronutrient malnutrition while little is known about the patterns and determinants of fruit production, consumption and marketing. The main research question of this paper (PDF) by Bioversity International and the World Agroforestry Centre was therefore: what are key trends in gender-disaggregated preferences, attitudes and decision-making processes of rural households for fruit consumption, production, and income generated from this activity? Data from 370 households was collected during a survey in July/August 2013 in five different agro-ecological zones (AEZ) along a transect of humidity in Western Kenya. Results showed that also in Western Kenya with favourable conditions for fruit tree growing fruit consumption is far below the recommended allowance. As a majority of participants would like to increase fruit consumption this should be seen as an incentive for increasing fruit production in Western Kenya.