Book Description

"The focus of this booklet is on fruit trees for small-scale farmers grown in home gardens and small-sale orchards, rather than on species such as oil palm that are predominantly cultivated in industrial-scale plantations. The booklet is intended to raise awareness and provide information to people and organizations, public and private, who are working with local communities to promote sustainable livelihood diversification for small-scale farmers. The booklet outlines the potential benefits of a fruit enterprise deriving from increased incomes, but also considers improved diets and food security for the farm family. It outlines the base requirements for cultivating fruit trees, marketing fruit and also processing fruit as well as drawing attention to some of the challenges. Even though harvesting of wild fruit trees is not considered in this booklet, processing, packaging and marketing of fruit produce is similar for both cultivated and wild harvested fruit.