Smart farms

: 19 February 2022; Hits: 11062

Legumes reverse decade-long soil degradation

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Famers in Nyeri are reversing decades of pesticide misuse that depressed soils nutrients and left them impoverished with a new legume and flower growing venture now pointing them to international markets.

This is why Kevin Gallagher, a researcher recently found himself in a field in Nyeri, in central Kenya, surrounded by women growing flowers and specialty legumes as an alternative to subsistence farming. More than 5 500 women's groups are active in the area, and many of them have asked for technical support on pesticide issues.

This is where integrated production and pest management comes in. In community-based farmer field schools, farmers learn about improving their management of the ecosystem. They are then able to encourage natural predators of crop pests and reduce the amount of pesticides they use.

The women grow high-value export crops like snow peas, and flowers such as limonium and tuber rose, which they sell to larger growers as fillers for bouquets, as well as legumes. No significant domestic markets exist for the legumes, so the field schools also teach marketing for export.

Kevin Gallagher an FAO expert in integrated production and pest management inspired by the women’s resolve has pitched tent in the area assisting them in good pest management practices. "We're helping growers learn about safe alternatives in pest management," he explained. "They haven't been fully informed about good practices, so they misuse pesticide compounds. It's a double challenge for us all. But the women are very determined, most of them are saving to send their children to school, and they have organized very effectively," said Gallagher.

The groups in Nyeri have already set up their own revolving loan funds, and their produce competes with that of large growers they grow so much that exporters send a truck every other day to pick up more supplies.

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: 19 February 2022; Hits: 10711

Low cost cooler helps farmers preserve produce

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A low cost storage facility meant to preserve produce for upto two weeks is assisting smallholder farmers stem food waste and sell their produce at reasonable prices at a time when Kenya is losing upto 40 percent of food to post harvest losses.

The technology dubbed CoolBot system is an innovation by University of Nairobi researcher Dr. Jane Ambuko who has been disturbed by farmers’ lack of access to food storage technology.

The technology uses a standard domestic air conditioner equipped with a control mechanism to maintain a room at the desired low temperature depending on the produce being stored. The system costs between Sh200,000 to Sh300,000 less than half of what a commercial cold store of the same dimension is sold for.

“Postharvest losses in Kenya can range from 10 to 50 percent, depending on the type of produce,” says Ambuko. “Cold storage can preserve produce for at least two weeks compared to two days for highly perishable fruits and vegetables exposed to room temperature. However, mechanical refrigeration technologies are generally out of reach for many smallholder farmers.” Many are forced to sell their commodities immediately, often at very low prices.

“This technology has been successfully introduced in Bangladesh, India and the United States, and we want our farmers to benefit from it too,” says Ambuko. “We are installing CoolBot cold rooms in three locations and have recruited about 600 farmers, more than half of whom are women, to test them.” If all goes well during the project’s initial proof-of-concept phase, Ambuko plans to seek additional grant funding to expand the project’s reach and impact.

Ambuko is applying best practices learned through a two-year, online training of trainers in postharvest technology by the Postharvest Education Foundation and the University of California, Davis under the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Horticulture, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

She is also one of 390 outstanding women agricultural scientists from 11 African countries who have won prestigious fellowships from African Women in Agricultural Research and Development(AWARD). Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID under Feed the Future, AWARD fellowships are granted on the basis of each scientist’s intellectual merit, leadership capacity and the potential of her work to improve the livelihoods of African smallholder farmers.

According to an AWARD study, the majority of those who produce, process and market Africa’s food are women, but only one in four agricultural researchers is female. Even fewer – one in seven – hold leadership positions in African agricultural research institutions. In order for African agriculture to reach its potential, it is critical to cultivate a new generation of African leaders in food and agriculture, including technically competent, confident and influential women.

In Africa, four billion dollars worth of food is lost annually due to inefficiencies across the agricultural value chain after crops are harvested, according to a study by theAlliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. This kind of food waste is referred to as “postharvest loss”, and has many causes ranging from poor infrastructure for transporting agricultural goods to improper or outdated food storage practices. “Reduced postharvest losses mean better food security and nutrition for farming families in Kenya,” says Ambuko. “I am passionate about doing my part to make this happen.”

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: 19 February 2022; Hits: 4080

Information key driver to improved farmer income

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For Joseph Njuguna a farmer in Nyandarua, farming was a typical exercise of planting and waiting for crops to grow. It was until a visit by the extension officers that he took farming

the extension officers that he took farming seriously and has now managed to turn his farm into a cash cow.

Having land adjacent to Aberdare forest meant that he was exposed to rainfall, but the same rainfall at times caused havoc in his farm washing away his crops. But a serious rethink has now transformed his 15 acre plot from a barren land to a food basket with grass, napier grass, fruit trees, vegetables and potatoes occupying the land.

In his farm, he has grass strips cropped horizontally and fruit trees along the edges, which,he said, has saved him from the massive loss of his crops. "Now I harvest 20 bags of potatoes from each acre and have comfortably grown fodder crops on some acres to feed my three cows. Before, I just had one cow and struggled to feed due to lack of grass," he said.

Njuguna is among many farmers in Kenya who have improved their food security following access to information on better farming methods from the ministry of agriculture. Continued use of the poor agricultural practices is among the factors resulting to low harvests among the rural small scale farmers in Kenya, according to the country’s agriculture ministry.

The small scale farmers in the East African nation make up 98 percent of the total food production, some of which is consumed locally while the rest is exported. "Without encouraging small scale farmers to adopt better ways of farming like agro-forestry which includes growing crops and trees, we will not be able to be food secure,"said Peter Ng’ang’a, an agricultural official based in Nyandarua County.
He said when farmers leave their pieces of land bare, they expose it to soil erosion which erodes the fertility needed for successful growth of crops.

"Take an example of Njuguna, if he did not start growing grass covering the soil, thereby controlling the velocity of run-off, he could not be harvesting anything," noted the agricultural official. Njuguna is among the farmers who have gained from the advice of the agricultural official, who visited his farm and guided him on ways to bear rich benefits from his 15-acre agricultural land.

Among the initiatives the country’s ministry of agriculture is effecting is enlightening farmers on modern technologies effective in reducing soil erosion while increasing crop yields. This is done through the farmers’ field days, on which they meet the agricultural officials, and visit regional agricultural exhibitions where successful farming ventures are exhibited.

"However farmers are encouraged to be very aggressive and visit the Ministry of Agriculture offices in their respective locations for information on variety of crops to grow at a certain area and period," Ng’ang’a noted. According to the Soil Atlas of Africa, a publication of the Food and Agriculture Organization in collaboration with EU and African Union; increased pressure on existing agricultural areas, mono-cropping, overstocking and ploughing of the of marginal lands unsuitable for cultivation are some of the factors causing rapid soil degradation in Africa.
Farmers are therefore advised to shift from the traditional methods of farming to the productive means of agriculture that focus on maximizing soil fertility and minimizing its degradation.

With the growing population in Kenya, Peter Kimani, a specialist in crop production, noted the need for educating small scale farmers on farming systems that allow the soil to recover its nutrients. "Farmers are using the wrong kind of fertilizer not recommended for in acidic or alkaline soils.
"The more they use them the more they dwindle their harvests. They need information,"said Kimani.

He said farmers should be encouraged to practice strip cultivation to prevent soil erosion in their farming lands. Under this farming system, farmers are expected to leave unploughed vegetated strips between tilled land and allowing buffer zones of indigenous plants to grow along the river banks.

However, he added that can happen if more extension officials are deployed in each location to reach out to remote farmers who are unable to access the agriculture offices.

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