Smart farms

: 15 April 2016; Hits: 9840

An affordable insurance cover for Smallholder farmers in Kenya

Small holder maize farmers in Kenya with crop on less than five acres are set to benefit from a subsidized insurance covers if their expected yields fall by more than 20 per cent due to extreme weather conditions.
This is good news to more than 70 per cent of maize farmers in the country who are normally forced to endure hard social economic times including famine when tough weather condition like drought, floods and hail stones affect their yields. The insurance cover will act as a refund for poor yields arising from bad weather condition, hence providing them a new starting point.
How it works
This noble insurance plan is as a result of a partnership between the Kenyan government and seven leading insurance companies including APA Insurance, Amaco, CIC, Heritage, Kenya Orient, UAP and Jubilee with the government paying 50 percent of total premiums for farmers.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture Livestock and Fisheries, premiums paid by the farmers will be tied to the historical average yield of a particular area with zones with higher yields paying an average of Sh1367 per acre while those with low yield history paying an average of Sh456 per acre
This mean, a maize farmer with two acres of maize plant in Trans Nzoia, a high maize producing region in Kenya is supposed to pay Sh2734, the government will pay a half of the amount. His counterpart with the same size of maize farm in a low producing region like Wajir is supposed to pay Sh912, with a half cleared by the State. The modalities of what a farmer in a region is supposed to pay as premium will be arrived at by those insurance companies.
Although APA Group chief executive Ashok Shah described this initiative as an all inclusion weather insurance package for smallholder farmers and a sure insulation for weather based agricultural disasters, some farmers like Eliud Mucheru from Kiambu view it as an extortion conduit by insurance companies to expand their market bases. He wants the insurance to cover include other production barriers like disease and pests if they indeed want to uplift a farmer.
However, most experts have termed this initiative as a step in the right direction by the government to guard cash starved small holder farmers against harsh and unexpected weather disasters which hamper their production every year. Kenya has an annual maize deficit of up to 10 million bags per year, forcing the government to import from neighboring countries.
Major documents and dates
Maize is the country’s staple food with an average consumption of 98 kilos per year, this according to the Kenya Maize Development Programme (KMDP)
Farmers willing to sign up for this insurance package are asked to visit any branch of insurance companies mentioned in this partnership. Some of documentations needed include the copy of title deed, authentic measurement of farm size under maize production and the farmer’s identification card.
Farmers have up to the March 14 to sign up for the cover ahead of the long rains planting season that starts in April and the second week of October for the short rains season. For more information about this insurance plan, kindly visit a nearest branch of any insurance company mentioned in this article

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: 15 April 2016; Hits: 10712

How to identify genuine maize seeds this planting season

The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KARLO) has warned farmers against cartels selling fake maize seeds across the country, just about two weeks to planting season.

A part from swindling from farmers in this row deals, fake seeds would lower the country's maize yiled by up to 40 per cent.
KARLO Director-General Eliud Kireger said the unscrupulous dealers are wooing farmers to buy the fake seeds on claiming they planting materials have been released by the agency through a joint research venture.
“We wish to advise farmers that KARLO has not entered into any agreement whatsoever with some of these fake collaborators going round the country conning them using our name. We urge the them to visit our institutes and centres across the country for clarification and information,” said Kireger in a press statement.
Although identifying fake maize seeds is tricky to farmers, Farmbiz Africa has prepared a check list to guide farmers when buying any seeds from a distributor.
READ ALSO: ABC of maize farming
Buy from authorised company’s office or institution
While some companies have distributors in various parts of the country, it is safe to seek information or purchase seeds at renowned company’s office. A part from obtaining genuine seeds, farmers are likely to get detailed information about planting, yield per acre, pest and disease control from experts.
They should, however' insist on seeing the company’s certificate of registration, which must be displayed at all time, clearance certificate from KEPHIS and obtain a receipt after purchasing.
READ ALSO: Suitable maize varieties for different regions in Kenya
Packaging
Although unscrupulous seed dealers are becoming more creative to an extent of achieving almost 70 per cent imitation of packaging by genuine brands, quality of colour and KEPHIS clearance tag distinguish them. Packages from genuine dealers have full colour and KEPHIS tags inside the bag while fake ones have dim brand shades and lack tags.
Colour
The quality of dye and stitching of the bag can also help farmers distinguish genuine seeds from fake ones. Con seed distributors basically dye commercial maize with color synonymous with a credible dealer, hence achieving poor colour pattern. A close look at a fake white seed dyed in yellow colour for instance show white strips. The general colour is normally lighter or dulls whilst the genuine seed has a full shade. Seed bags from genuine dealers are well stitched.
Poor maize production in the country, many a time, forcing the State to import from neighboring countries to fill yearly deficit.

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: 15 April 2016; Hits: 12238

Converting female to male tilapia fish is more productive

As many counties move to empower youth and women groups through aquaculture, small-scale fish farmers can increase productivity by introducing only male fingerlings into their ponds.

Increased local and global demand, more-so for tilapia, catfish and corp, is driving more people into this farming.

Monosex fishing farming, which is advocating male fingerlings, has been found to be high yielding because of the biological disadvantages of females.

In counties like Mombasa, catfish has been the main species given out to these farmers.

For instance Nile tilapia, which is one of the most preferred fish globally, is easy to rear because of its omnivorous feeding orientation.

This characteristic of eating both plants and small animals gives it a cutting edge over other species in food resource strained environments.

Males do best

In addition, its prolific reproduction rate makes it a choice for many farmers.

On the flip-side the fast multiplication impacts yield per single fish. Multiple researches have shown that rearing only male tilapia can increase the weight of an individual fish by 30 per cent.

On average, a mature tilapia fish weighs about between 400g to 500g in five to eight months. In warmer and stable conditions tilapia can reach 600g to 900g, according to Food and Agricultural Organisation.

FAO says growth rate of males, when alone, is almost twice per day. The energy meant to spur reproduction in the males supports growth.

Peter Ogora, an animal breeding lecturer at Egerton University, says continued reproduction hinders fish from attaining maximum weight.

“Fish grow well when the population is kept constant. Reproducing females increase population of the stock, effectively raising competition for food an other growth resources. This results in stunted growth of the original stock,” the aquaculture lectures said.

Given that tilapia is a mouth brooder (rearing fingerlings in the mouth), it is likely to have limited time to feed as it secures the fingerlings against predators, he said.

Males become females

But farmers cannot convert tilapia fish to males on their own. Fish fingerling breeding firms do the conversion of females into males before selling.

The conversion is possible because sexual differentiation in tilapia fish takes place several days after yolk sac absorption. For successful reversal, fries ('candidates') must be less than 14 mm.

A male sex hormone, methyltestosterone, is introduced into feeds. If this, and other procedures are followed, 95 per cent to 100 per cent conversion is achieved.

Another alternative of female-to male reversal that firms are using is subjecting the fries into 'sustainable temperature treatment'.

The later method is becoming more popular as eaters shun inorganic foods. This has made the companies avoid hormonal sex reversal process.

Jambo Fish Western and Jambo Fish firms in Nairobi's Kasarani are some of the distributors of the male fingerlings.

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