(1981) Van Eijnatten, C.L.M.; Coast Agricultural Research Station PO Box 16 Kikambala Kenya
It is a common phenomenon in fruit producing perennial crops that a tree producing well during one year exhibits a much lower productivity in the subsequent year. Alternatively, a low productive your is followed by a high productive year. This biennial bearing pattern contributes to irregularity in productivity especially in small scale farms with restricted numbers of trees. In such cases a major pert of the biennial bearing, trees may be in phase" with each other i.e. all being in the nigh productive phase of the two-year cycle or in the low productive year simultaneously. This can be disastrous to the shell scale farmer in respect of his income. Biennial bearing is, in any case, undesirable from the point of view of arranging activities on the farm.
