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A partnership between local and international NGOs, and a network of primary and secondary schools is seeking to reduce vitamin A deficiency and generate income by promoting preservation, use and marketing of mangoes in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

The Vitamin A from Mangoes (VitAngo) partnership, initiated in the Lake Victoria Basin in Western Kenya, seeks to reduce vitamin A deficiency and generate income by promoting the preservation, consumption and marketing of mangoes.

The initiative brings together local, national and international partners who are pooling their expertise and resources to address health and economic concerns in a sustainable way.

Vitamin A deficiency significantly increases disability and morbidity risks for women and young children. Mangoes have the highest provitamin A content of all tropical fruits. However, they are harvested only once a year and, as they are easily perishible, are available only for a relatively short period of time, during which much fruit goes to waste.

VitAngo will preserve mangoes through environmentally friendly solar drying and storage techniques, promote the expansion of existing earlier and later-ripening mango varieties, and improve marketing mechanisms.

The programme will also include nutrition, business and agroforestry education in schools and communities. Schools will become accessible resource centres for local communities and small enterprise models for the commercialisation of dried fruits.

VitAngo will link viable applicable technology, capital and know-how to leverage entrepreneurial talent and accelerate the commercialisation of fruit products and solar drying technologies.

If successful, the partnership model has the potential to be replicated across many parts of Africa.