Abstract

Indigenous fruit trees (IFTs) have various benefits such as enhancing nutrition and food security, but face threats of deforestation and genetic erosion. This paper focused on identification of the local people’s preference of IFT. Research methods mainly involved field survey in Coast province, Kenya and analysis was by the conjoint analytical method. The survey results were as follows: (1) By the preference test, local people thought “wood products” was the most important consideration in the selection of IFT, and the next was “food value”; (2) By the utilization test, local people recognized IFT with “marketability” and “food value” as the priority species; (3) By the market survey, the trade and incomes from IFT were found to be small, while the income from IFT was limited by seasonality. In conclusion, the main factor contributing to the decrease of IFTs was the high logging pressure in accordance with the finding that the “wood products” factor came higher than “marketability” which is considered as the main source of incentive to conserve IFTs. To effectively conserve or enhance the growth of IFTs, these local preferences should be considered.

Key words: Indigenous fruit tree (IFT), Coast province in Kenya, local preference, strategy, conjoint analytical method

Abbreviation

FAO, The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; IFT,Indigenous Fruit Tree; IK, Indigenous Knowledge; PRC, Partial Regression Coefficient;SSA, Sub-Saharan Africa.