Mwangi Stanley, Mumbi Kimathi, Mary Kamore, Nancy Karanja and Mary Njenga

In: UA Magazine 17 - Strengthening Urban Producers' Organisations

African leafy vegetables (ALVs) are traditionally an important element in the diet of many Africans, but the market has remained underdeveloped due to the lack of any successful efforts to commercialise the crop. The sources of a few bunches of vegetables in a Nairobi market were traced back mostly to wild harvesting by small-scale women farmers in western Kenya – 400 km from Nairobi. It appeared that brokers and traders packed the vegetables in sacks that were transported to the city in night buses. This drastically reduced the quality of the vegetables. Interventions initiated in 2002 by FCI and its partners have dramatically reversed this trend.