Articles
A GENERAL REVIEW OF RESEARCH WORK ON COCONUTS AND CASHEW NUTS AT THE KENYA COAST.
Of the total area of 3000 km2 cultivated under all crops in the province, the two crops account for over 30%.
The Coast Agricultural Research Station was established in 1958 at Mtwapa, 20 km north of Mombasa, initially to carry out investigations on coconut, cashew and citrus, but was later expanded to include food crops and cash crops as well as grasses and forage crops.
One of the most important activities of the Station is to produce planting material that is both healthy and high yielding and selection programmes for coconuts and cashews have been initiated for this purpose.
Various aspects of cultivation and management of the crops are also studied.
For coconuts these include fertiliser experiments, germination studies, assessment of damage caused by weeds and pests and methods for their control.
Research on cashew includes investigation of the effects of spacing, pruning, pests and diseases on the growth and productivity of the trees.
Experiments have been carried out to propagate cashew vegetatively by budding, grafting and airlayering, with varying degrees of success.
The work has shown that poor husbandry, genetic variation, diseases and pests are the main causes of low yields in both coconuts and cashewnuts.