Overview

The potential of fruit trees to optimize the combined benefits of livelihoods, food security, nutrition and climate mitigation and adaptation is promising but not yet fully understood nor applied in practice. 

Therefore, this project seeks to increase tree-growing, especially fruit trees, in targeted agricultural landscapes of Kenya and Rwanda. It is anticipated that fruit trees will provide nutritional diversity, increased food supply and saleable surplus production to people in need, thereby, contributing towards increased household incomes.

To maximize the multiple benefits of the planted trees, including roles such as climate adaptation, the capacity of participating farmers will be enhanced in how to raise, grow and manage fruit trees through gender-responsive, high-quality, seedling supply systems and training.

In addition, quantification of the benefits of sequestration of carbon in the biomass of fruit trees already planted will give an idea about the quantities of carbon available in these systems and the changes that may occur following increased adoption of fruit trees by farmers.

Specifically, the project aims to enhance farm-level, climate adaptation as well as household food security and nutrition for smallholders in Kenya and Rwanda by increasing the stocking and strategic siting of fruit trees. 

It also aims to take the first steps in exploring the potential for the carbon sequestered in fruit trees to provide access to additional international climate finance and provide information requested by farmers about their own contributions to mitigating climate change.

The project sites include Makueni and Kiambu counties in Kenya and Bugesera District in Rwanda.

Main objectives

• Scale out community-based growing of fruit and nut trees using multipurpose species where possible
• Show smallholders how to site trees on farms to maximize climate-adaptation benefits
• Estimate benefits of fruit-tree carbon sequestration to determine the potential for access to international climate finance that could further accelerate expansion of scale.

Key activities

• Conduct farm surveys and a synthesis of existing literature to assess dominant agroforestry practices and identify priorities, challenges, and opportunities for integrating diversified fruit trees on farms
• Assess the proportion of fruit trees on farms and consult with stakeholders on priority fruit species
• Conduct assessment of different sources of planting material required to promote growing fruit trees at wide scale
• Enhance the capacity of raising and improving stock of diverse tree species, especially indigenous species, selecting species for multiple benefits and maximizing adaptation benefits, including through farmer-managed natural regeneration
• On-farm training in agronomic practices for improving fruit-tree productivity and climate-adaptation benefits
• Capacity-building of smallholders in fruit-tree production, nurseries and income-generation
• Systematic review of estimation of aboveground biomass in fruit trees and contribution to Nationally Determined Contributions
• Development of allometric equations through destructive sampling and remote sensing for estimation of biomass in fruit trees
• Quantification of carbon stocks in fruit trees.

Expected outcomes

• Enhanced understanding by targeted communities of the benefits for food security, livelihoods and climate adaptation of growing fruit trees
• Enhanced capacity of smallholders to grow and manage fruit trees in the specific ways needed to derive multiple benefits
• Enhanced understanding and knowledge utilization of the contribution of fruit trees to climate-change mitigation.