P-MAK: Improving pollination management for Avocados in Kenya

About the project

UK-registered Partner: Agrisound – Heather Sanders
Africa-registered Partner: AGS Ekology Holdings Ltd – Edward Morrison

The project will address a pressing challenge in primary crop production (pollination deficiency) in order to increase yields for avocado farmers.

Avocado is currently a growing industry in Kenya, offering the opportunity for producers at small and larger scales to increase profits and contribute to a sustainable food supply. However, growers experience yields far below optimum, with only 1% of flowers bearing fruit, and farmers reporting that pollination deficiency contributes to poor yields. Therefore achieving even a 1% increase in fruit set through enhancing pollination efficiencies would double a farm’s production.

Agrisound have developed innovative IoT acoustic technology that automatically detects pollinator activity and provides real time environmental information through a web platform, enabling access to information that was previously unobtainable due to the impracticalities of manual observations. AGS have embedded expertise in agroecology and agricultural landscape management in Kenya and can implement effective strategies to manage pollinators with the help of this technology.

The P-MAK project provides a proof of concept for using automated monitoring to maximise pollination efficiencies among avocado growers in Kenya. With our automated monitoring devices located across the orchard, areas of poor bee activity are identified and the farm operatives can take appropriate actions to ensure high pollination and high yields. The system has also helped in the farm R&D by providing quantification of the impact of pollination in a trial intercropping avocados and strawberries.