Smart farms

: 02 August 2022; Hits: 3440

Isinya farm introduces innovative solar panel farming to E. Africa

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By George Munene

Latia Agribusiness Centre in Isinya has unveiled East Africa’s first Agrivoltaic farm-- a farming method that grows crops underneath solar panels.

The innovative agricultural practice facilitates farming under limited land, renewable energy generation and can significantly improve the productivity of crops because the shade provided by the panel arrays reduces heat stress and water loss. This could provide multiple solutions in East Africa, a region with high light intensity, high temperatures, and low rainfall.

The Agrivoltaics (AV) system has been co-developed by the University of Sheffield and local agriculture and energy experts to deliver solar electricity, crop production, and rainwater harvesting on the same land area in order to provide multiple energy and food security benefits.

“The fantastic appeal of this initiative is that it delivers a triple-win for food, energy, and water security, all on the same area of land,” said an expert involved in the project’s implementation.

The agrivoltaic (AV) system has been in use to increase land-use efficiency as it uses the shaded space underneath solar panels to grow crops as well as providing shade and offering crops protection from the weather.

According to the World Economic Forum doubling up on land use in this way could help feed the world’s growing population while also providing sustainable energy.

This is critical in East Africa, as 55 per cent of the population still does not have reliable electricity. AV avoids use of traditional ground-mounted arrays of solar panels which reduce the amount of land needed for other activities such as growing crops.

Typically, in the AV system, solar panels are installed three to four meters above ground to make space for farm operations.

They are also tilted at a 30° angle to efficiently capture sunlight to the south. Due to the space between solar panels, some crops can capture sunlight directly from the sun, while other crops can be placed in the solar panels’ shade. This shaded area moves as the sun moves over the course of the day.

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: 26 July 2022; Hits: 2864

Nyamira farmer reaps big with shift from coffee to fruits

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A farmer from Nyamira County who made losses due to mismanagement and factory bean robbers in the coffee sector shunned the crop for passion fruit farming, a venture which is earning him Sh5,500 per 50kg bag of fruit as it is increasingly becoming in demand in the juice processing industry.

James Kiriago grew one passion fruit seedling outside his home in Magwagwa for domestic consumption. In three months, it yielded more than 500 fruits, which he sold to traders collecting fruits for sale in Kisumu.

“When the traders came unexpectedly to buy from the fruits after they were shown my farm by some brokers, I had ‘too little to offer them as their demand was big. This is the time I realized the worth of the fruit and I decided to pursue it,” said Kiriago.

Last year, he planted more than 100 purple passion fruit seedlings, which have turned part of his quarter-acre farm into a bush.

“The harvest is gradual. But after a full flowering, which happens in about two months, I harvest two to three 50kg bags at an interval of two weeks. The Kisumu traders look for me; I never look for them. It is an easy business that I do unlike coffee, which had turned unpredictable even after depositing my beans to the factory,” Kiriago said.

After selling each of the fruits at Sh4, one 50kg bag earns him between Sh5,500 and Sh6,000. The variation is caused by size disparity.

Currently, a bag of 50kg of passion farming retails at Sh3,800 in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Nakuru, Sh3,100 in Kisumu, Sh2,850 in Eldoret, and Sh4,560 in Malindi.

Coca-Cola is one of the international beverage companies contracting farmers to supply passion fruit. Other companies are importing concentrates from South Africa and other regions to meet their demand.

Passion fruit is highly susceptible to fusarium wilt attack.

But for Kiriago, fruit flies and leaf miners are the main challenges, but he keeps their effect low with weekly pesticide strays.

Just like in other parts of Kenya where coffee is grown, robbers regularly break into factories and steal thousands of kilograms of the beans, leading to losses of millions of shillings.

Mnangagwa coffee factory is not an exception. Although the Nyimira County farmer has a few coffee bushes, the crop is no longer his focus.

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: 26 July 2022; Hits: 2997

Embu farmers slash energy costs by 40% with coffee husk briquettes

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By George Munene

The Rainforest Alliance is partnering with local organizations and coffee farmers in Embu County to turn their coffee husks into smokeless carbonized household cooking briquettes which reduce energy costs by 40 per cent.

The project which will serve 1,500 members of the Kibugu Farmers’ Cooperative Society in Embu County will reduce their cost in money, time, and energy used in fetching firewood as well as increase access to affordable, efficient, and clean energy technologies.

The coffee farmers will also have access to more efficient cookstoves which can be purchased through credit and payment installments made possible through a revolving fund. The project will also connect energy suppliers to energy entrepreneurs.

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A central Household Energy Center (HEC) will use coffee husks from local coffee mills to make briquettes which will be distributed through two satellite HECs and six Last Mile Entrepreneurs (LME) who will serve as retailers of these products and target remote, rural areas.

The project which will directly employ 13 people will reduce both household air pollution-- cooking smoke from traditional fuels contributes to 21,500 deaths in Kenya as well as a range of chronic and acute illnesses.

It will also help reduce deforestation and increase farmers’ disposable incomes as they’ll have more money to put towards other needs.

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