Smart farms

: 03 July 2017; Hits: 9736

Crisps reduce farmer's mango losses

Mango market- CCAFS-Cgiar.jpg

A farmer posses with mangoes. Kilifi farmer is drying mangoes for sale as crisps. Photo by CGIAR.

In countering loses in rotting of mangoes due to competition and over supply during harvest, Kilifi County farmer Juma Mwaringa has moved into drying and packaging the fruit into crisps using solar and wind power.

The farmer uses the hybrid wind and solar power machines to dry chopped crisps. The drier, which has turbines and solar panels can day and night provided there is wind. Solar panels mainly tap the energy at day time.

Global United Nations agency, Food and Agriculture organsiation , says 40 per cent of the total production annually goes to waste or lost. Kenya produces about 50,000 tons annually, of which about 45 per cent is lost in waste or rotting, according to the horticultural department.

This majorly happens when the local and international market are saturated.

Mwaringa has adopted the drying of the mangoes to extend their shelf-life from less than a week to about three months or more.

“When the mangoes are in plenty, the cost drops from about Sh30 to Sh10 for each mature fruit. But with this machine, I am not worried about going bad. I no longer struggle to sell fresh mangoes along the Mombasa Malindi Road as before because the dry ones fetch more,” he said.

Mwaringa sells a packet of 250g at an average of Sh150. About 90 per cent of the fruit is water, while the rest is flesh.

On average, one fresh mango can shrink to about 170g when dry. The same mango could have earned a maximum of Sh30 in retail in towns like Nairobi yet it needs a small top up o earn more than four times.

Packaging materials cost Sh5. Sealing of the polythene bags is done by folding and passing the edge near a flame of fire.

Mwaringa chops the flesh into discs of about five centimeters wide them in the solar-panel powered gadget to quicken the water loss process.

Besides the slowed loss rate, the farmer extends the shelf-life of the mangoes to more than three months.

“I rely on roadside vending. Sometimes I visit Watamu Beach wherever I know there are many people there,” Mwaringa said.

The drier uses wind power in absence of the sun. That means the turbines can run even at night if there is wind to generate the required heat to expel the moisture.

It takes about two days to dry 10 kilos of the mangoes.

Other farm produce can also be dried using the chamber.

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: 30 June 2017; Hits: 8439

Device saves over 60 per cent nutrient leaching loss

Aquacheck at work. The device can tell farmers when to irrigate crops. Photo courtesy.

While farmers are adopting irrigation for crop production on dry spells, a study has established that unmonitored water may lead to loss of more than half of the nutrients through leaching.

A research by the Crop Nutrition Services Limited found that farmers lose up to 60 per cent of nutrients to the lower soil regions where crop roots my not reach. This leads to low productivity as the crops remain stunted as well as failure to meet the nutrients required for various functions like flowering.

“In irrigation of 16m³ per acre in one day, there was evidence of strong nutrient leaching in all sites with nitrates and calcium being the most lost at 60cm and 90cm depth,” the study revealed.

Crop Nutrition Agronomist Emmanuel Kibet said ‘blind irrigation’ does not give farmers value for their money.

Aquacheck-soil moisture probe is an irrigation system that allows farmers to manage their irrigation efficiently, it measures moisture up to six depths and even beyond (has sensors at each 10cm depth).

This allows the farmer to know the moisture levels all the way down the rooting depth thus allowing them to decide when it is right time to irrigate and what amounts of water to irrigate. Different soil types have different properties and holds different amount of water, he said.

“Leaching lead to loses of nutrient before utilisation by the crop. A farmer will be tempted to increase the frequency of fertiliser application when they notice the health of the crop is diminishing. With accurate data on how much water is available in the soil for the crop, a farmer can regulate the irrigation frequency for optimum results,” he said.

Reducing the irrigation –when not necessary from the available data- intervals decreases pumping, labour, and water bill costs.

Mr Kibet is working with farmers in Kiambu County, soil moisture sensors are being used to determine the amount of water required for the crops to do well.

The sensor, also known as Aquacheck, is installed in the soil where it keeps track of the amount of available water moisture against soil particles at a two hour interval.

The data is sent to a computer or a smart phone, where it is presented in graphs. The trained farmer interprets the results for action, the agronomist said.

If the water is sufficient, one can skip irrigation until there is need.

For one piece sufficiently monitors a maximum area of up to three acres. It can also be used in greenhouses.

Although the initial cost may be high for most small-scale farmers, Mr Kibet said the accumulated saving from the irrigation and leaching are worth investment.

With the statistics, it means that excess irrigation can drain 30kg out of 50kg applied on a given piece of land.

Kibet can be reached on +254720646976

Crop Nutrition office: +254 736 839933, + 254 720 639933

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: 27 June 2017; Hits: 7211

Maize protect peas for EU export

Peas fresh photo by Food52.jpg

Peas in pods. Growing maize with peas protects the latter crop from aphids. This canhelp farmers access the EU market as conditions become more. Photo by Food52.

As the European Union reviews the maximum residue level (MRL) in fresh peas for export by half from July 2017, the growing maize as victims of aphids - one of the main pests for the horticultural product- may help farmers meet this stringent condition of entering this market.

Growing files along the borders and, perhaps, after some spacing within the field can help in diverting the aphids from the peas.

“Aphids are of various types, but in general, they ‘love’ maize. Growing maize and peas together reduces the susceptibility of the latter to the pests. While the aphids concentrate on the maize, this could give the main crop time to grow,” Agronomist Patrick Nyauma said.

With various researches linking lifestyle diseases like cancer to chemicals in foods, the EU has been tightened the acceptable MRL for horticultural exports.

In 2016, the MRL was reduced to 0.02 parts per million from the previous overall 0.2 parts per million. But with peas, a review is underway to reduce the MRL by 5 per cent from 10 per cent.

Kenya has been ranked the 13^th on the watch-list by the EU, which imported the bulky of the country’s Sh102 billion worth of horticultural produce.

Between April 2016 and April 2017, at least 46 interceptions have been made in respect to horticultural goods failing the photosanitary test at various EU entry points, according to Kenya’s Horticultural Crop Directorate.

These measures have led to a search for alternative ways of reducing the chemicals used in the control of pests to ease access to this rich export market for Kenya.

Companion cropping would not only reduce the cost of production in the purchase of pesticides, but also lower the amount of chemicals used in the control of the crop enemies.

According to the Manitoba agriculture journal, heavy infestation by the aphids curls leaves leading to stunted growth. Heavy infestation may lead to about 10 per cent losses.

The aphids also spread viruses like the mosaic.

“This is not a perfect prevention for the control of the aphids. But the inclusion of other integrated pest management practices could be effective in reducing chemical use given that the market is getting narrow,” Nyauma said.

Chilies, cucumber, black night shade, tomatoes, among other susceptible crops may be protected using this method.

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