The Mountain Journal
There is an outcry of mangoes glut in Murang’a with thousands of farmers staring at incurring a major loss after the fruit processors and buyers are overwhelmed by the production.
Reports indicate that more than 40,000 metric tonnes of the mangoes have gone to waste since the harvesting season started, with an NGO Food for Education (F4F) moving in to assist in the stabilization of the market buying the fruits for the distribution to learners in schools in the counties Murang’a, Nairobi and Kiambu.
In partnership with the county government, the NGO is indicated to reach out to more than 5,000 farmers with a projection of buying 1.32 million mangoes in efforts to reduce the impact of the loss.
The NGO in a statement indicated to have already bought and distributed more than 250,000 mangoes to the schools they provide with meals.
“The collaboration transforms a potential food waste crisis into a nutrition and food systems solution by connecting smallholder farmers directly to school meals for children,” read part of the statement.
Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata said his administration was committed to stabilising the mango market, assuring farmers that measures are being put in place to protect their incomes through reduction of the post-harvest losses.
The county government started offering support and subsidies to mango farmers two years ago, which saw the price for a kilo of mango rise to more than Sh23.
“ The mangoes have been supplied to schools under school feeding programmes in the counties of Kiambu and Nairobi,” said Governor Irungu Kang’ata.
He urged the farmers urged to strictly follow harvesting guidelines issued by cooperative so as to avoid more losses
The governor further stated that the county government is aware that some mangoes already harvested by farmers are yet to be collected by officials from the Lower Murang’a Cooperative, a situation that has caused concern among the growers.
“My administration issued an advisory to mango farmers following a glut in the market that has slowed the uptake of produce by the contracted manufacturers across the county,” said the Governor through a public notice.
Heavy rains that occurred in August last year, he explained, led to massive flowering in the mango trees, resulting in the massive production of the fruits.
Kang’ata observed that the two fruit processors contracted by the county government were unable to absorb all the produce supplied by the farmers affiliated with the lower Murang’a Mango cooperative society daily.
The governor further stated that the county government is aware that some mangoes already harvested by farmers are yet to be collected by officials from the Lower Murang’a Cooperative, a situation that has caused concern among the growers.
This follows that the contracted processors were rejecting tonnes of the immature mangoes supplied by the farmers, a trend that has impacted negatively on the community.
