If you are searching for a crop to grow on your farm, then Mango fruit can be an excellent candidate. I am saying this because there is no fruit, enjoyed throughout the world, that is popular and universally acceptable as mango. People use it in fresh juices, jams, eat it as fresh fruit, dry it, convert it into concentrate—the uses of mango fruit is indeed diverse.

That is good news to prospective farms. You are assured of a regular market and handsome profit if you grow mango.

That’s not all. When it comes to popularity and consumption, the only tropical fruit which outranks mango is the banana. Mango fruit is so popular that according to ICRAF US$ 500 million worth of mangoes are exported each year, and 40 times that amount consumed in the countries of production. Mango farmers throughout the world make handsome profits from the trade of mango!

The mango tree and fruit have two roles to the people rely on them.

1. Many families depend on the mango fruits for nutrition and
2. For the provision of income generation opportunities

Origin of Mango Growing In Kenya and Africa

The mango tree is not a native to Kenya. It is native to India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Malaysia, but can be found growing in more than 60 other countries throughout the world (Salim et al., 2002).  Believe it or not, mango trees were reported in Somalia as early as 1331.

In Kenya mango has been cultivated in the Coast Province for centuries. Traders in ivory and slaves brought seed into the country during the 14th century. Some of the progenies of varieties brought into Kenya and were planted along the Tana River are still productive.

Some of those varieties imported long ago by traders have been given names which to this day are still valued. Kitoovu, Kimji, Klarabu, Punda, and Mayai are of poor quality, but better-known cultivars like Apple, Ngowe, Boribo, Batawi, and Dodo have replaced them. Of these, a few have steadily lost ground to a generation of varieties introduced in the 1970s and 1980s distinguished by more excellent resistance to anthracnose (Colletotrichum), powdery mildew {Oidium), their beautiful color and excellent shelf life.

Propagation Of Mango

Mango can be multiplied by seeding and generally produce true-to-type progeny.

Environmental Conditions Required by Mango

Mango is adapted to a warm tropical monsoon climate with a pronounced dry season of more than three months) followed by rains. However, information from other countries indicates that crops cultivated for a long time over an extended area show a high degree of diversity due to varied environmental influences. This was likely also true for the mango seedlings first introduced in Kenya which were all polyembryonic.