Abstract:
Yellow passion fruit (Passiflora edulis var. flavicarpa) is emerging as an important high value
horticultural crop in Kenya since its introduction five years ago. The fruit is gaining wide
adoption in Mbeere Sub County due to its apparent adaptation to the hot arid conditions
and tolerance to Fusarium wilt disease. However, the current production levels of the fruit
are low due to poor water and nutrient management, erratic rainfall and poor agronomic
practices. A study was conducted to assess the agronomic practices and main constraints
among the farmers in Mbeere Sub County. A stratified random sampling procedure was
used to collect data from 63 households from a total population of 170,950. Data was collected
on household demographics, farm size, farming systems, planting materials, fertilizer use
and irrigation types. This was carried out through personal interviews with members in each
household responsible for management of passion fruit orchards using structured and semistructured
questionnaires.
The
results
indicate
that
the
majority
of
the farmers
(65%)
grow
yellow
passion
as
an
intercrop
with
other
food
crops.
Nevertheless,
passion
contributes
to
<10%
of the proportion of the farm, though this proportion is expected to increase with
expansion in production. Major findings indicate that the main source of planting materials
were seedlings from KARLO (44%), use of Yaramillar (44%) as the preferred planting
fertilizers and irrigation of crops three times per week (49%). In conclusion, yellow passion
is a fruit with potential for increased adoption but more detailed studies are needed to clearly
identify and understand water and nutrient management
