A photo of what looked like a dwarf avocado plant with fruits sparked a heated debate among Kenyans.
The majority claimed that the plant was too young to bear fruit and went ahead to make an uninformed determination that it had been genetically altered.
An independent study conducted by Kenyans.co.ke on Wednesday, January 11 established that the fruit was not the much dreaded - genetically modified organism (GMO).
Expert fruit farmer Muuo Brian explained that the tree underwent a process known as grafting.
"It is a technique used to speed up the fruiting process in plants. Once a plant has clocked five months, you trim all its leaves and branches.
"A step of an already yielding plant is then attached to the stem and within months, the graft and young plant become one," Muuo explained.
He added that with time, the attached branch begins to flower and eventually fruit. According to the farmer, the produce from such plants is safe for human consumption.
It is a strategy that has been adopted by farmers to increase yields of mango, orange and lemon trees.
On the other hand, old trees whose production has dropped can also be organically salvaged. This is done through a process known as top working.
It involves the implanting of the graft or seed of a different breed into an aged traditional species of trees. The graft is affixed using clear polythene paper.
After three months, the new attachment is merged. Farmers can harvest fruits after three to five years - more than the dying plant originally produced.
Trees grown from seeds take longer to grow than those which are planted as grafts.
