Smart farms

: 01 October 2020; Hits: 15520

Black Soldier Fly grower enlisting farmers to earn income

By George Munene

Ecodudu, a waste-to-value company housed at the Chandaria Business Innovation Incubation centre, is seeking to recruit small to medium scale farmers looking to generate extra revenue by rearing the insects on their site with the company’s support.

Black Soldier Flies (BSF) are a cheap alternative source of protein for pigs, poultry and fish. They offer equal value to more expensive protein sources such as omena, fishmeal and soybeans thus are useful for farmers looking to lower their production costs.

Birthed in 2017, the Company’s co-founder Starlin Farah, explains that a farmer needs to demonstrate a capacity to feed the flies on sources of organic waste available to them on their farm or household level. Though a greenhouse works best in rearing the fly, a basic farm shed could also be repurposed to house and grow BSF.

While the black soldier fly takes 31 days to mature, Ecodudu sells farmers young larvae to rear from the fifth to nineteenth day—the time they are young larvae until about their prepupa stage. The insects are vociferous eaters and gain up to ten times their weight after just 14 days. The firm buys back mature flies from farmers at Sh50-90 per kilogram. They are dried and packaged as Dudu Meal feed which has a 45% crude protein content and 36% of fats.

Black soldier flies are neither pests nor vectors; like redworms, they are useful in decomposing organic substrates, composting household and agricultural waste products. Ecodudu sells this fortified bio-fertiliser.

Ecodudu seeks to harness insects as recycling agents in use to address global issues such as waste management, growing protein demand and environmental conservation. The company is part of the FoodTech Africa Accelerator Program 2020 and its founders are finalists for this year's under 30 agriprenuer of the year award.

Farmer Registration: https://ecodudu.com/farmers-registration/

Ecodudu: +254 725-888-071/ +254 721-237-009

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Monday, 16 August 2021 [quote=Ken]Hi I am located at mwingi can bsf grow here?[/quote] Hi Ken, yes, Bl...

Thursday, 15 July 2021 Hi I am located at mwingi can bsf grow here?

Wednesday, 04 November 2020 [quote=Jane Nganga]Hi. Am Jane Nganga whats my total investment in startup?[/qu...

Tuesday, 03 November 2020 Hi. Am Jane Nganga whats my total investment in startup?

Monday, 19 October 2020 [quote=Mark kemboi]Hi am kemboi from trans nzoia county.Enroll me please.So inte...

: 01 October 2020; Hits: 12012

22 year old student uses 8 x 6 garden to keep family fed

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By George Munene

On an 8 x 6 slice of land adjacent to her home in Embu, Maureen Mwaniki, a 22-year-old student at the Nyandarua Institute of Science and Technology has set up her own kitchen garden stocked with vegetables— from sukuma wiki, managu, terere and cabbages. She also grows onions and tomatoes and has even worked out how to propagate herbs such as garlic and ginger.

The distance to markets and scarcity caused by the seasonality of everyday essentials she says gave her the impetus to start the project. Being in school, she did not have the time to properly tend to the farm but the stoppage in learning occasioned by the Corona virus has given her time to cultivate into her backyard garden.

Her garden is fenced off with a worn-out mosquito net which acts as a shade net that keeps off invasive insects such as whiteflies. This has in turn significantly reduced her need to use pesticides.

Studies also show that crop yield in shade nets is up to six times more than those grown in an open field and that they save farmers up to 30 per cent of harvestable yield losses. Nets also trap heat for the crops which substantially reduces their maturity period.

She grows her crops in cement bags and decrepit buckets, basins and plates which she fills with sifted out topsoil and manure. “Farmers mix in sand into bags to help in water penetration, however, besides being nutritious to the soil, manure also increases its capacity for water absorption and penetration as well as the soil’s water-holding capacity,” says Maureen. Concrete bags used for growing should be well perforated to allow for air circulation and avoid build-up of excess water which rots vegetative material.

Whilst the idea of growing vegetables in bags is no longer a novelty, Maureen also propagates garlic. She grows four cloves in one bag, this she says ensures they have adequate growing room; each clove will sprout into its own bulb and if they are too many in one bag they will have too much competition for resources and will grow-out too small. She measures the depth of planting by sinking her thumb into the soil whilst the distance from each clove is. She then covers the bulbs with manured soil and waters. The neck serves as a shoot, while the base of the garlic will form the rooting system. Bigger cloves make similarly bigger and healthier bulbs. On the perforated side of bags used to grow garlic, you can also grow other vegetables like sukumawiki.

Garlics usually come in two varieties; hardnecked—characterised by a stiff neck and softnecked. Softneck garlic does well in hot areas while the hardnecked garlic does better in colder climates. Hardneck varieties also do not store as well. They usually start to shrivel and deteriorate post-harvest after four to six months while softnecks keep for nine to twelve months under ideal storage conditions.

While the produce from her farm is meant for subsistence consumption, she usually has excess Sukumawiki which she sells or gives out for free to neighbours and visitors.

Maureen has even set up her own Youtube channel which she hopes to use to encourage more people to get into backyard farming: “I would like to empower other people and have them learn that they do not need to buy every food item. If you could keep that 10 or 20 bob you use every day to buy sukuma or onions, over the course of a year that is a lot of money saved.”

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: 29 September 2020; Hits: 15504

Farmers rearing catfish in 3 x 4M greenhouse yield tonne in 9 months

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By George Munene

Catfish culture in concrete greenhouse ponds is a new innovative alternative to use of outdoor pond liners that helps to curb cannibalism which eats into up to 42 per cent of the profits of catfish farmers. The warm weather inside the greenhouses also encourages faster growth of the fish. Concrete ponds are also more durable, lasting for over 20 years if made from quality material.

Anthony Mwangi, the proprietor of Oasis Aquafish Farm in Thika explains that one of the major challenges faced by catfish farmers in Kenya is the cannibalistic nature of the species. According to a study of the effects of catfish grading in Kenya done at Mwea Aquafish Farm Limited by the Journal of Aquaculture, Fisheries & Fish Science: fish graded every two weeks had a 7.5 per cent cannibalism mortality rate compared to 42.4 per cent in fish that were not graded and 18.9 percent for fish graded every four weeks. Size variation was also significantly affected by grading frequency with fish graded every two weeks gaining and retaining weigh quicker followed by those graded every four weeks and finally those with no grading treatment being the lowest.

Concrete greenhouse ponds measure just 3 x 4 meters; this makes management easier for the farmer as they are able to prevent cannibalism in their stock by regularly sorting the shooters (fast maturers) and removing them before automatically refilling the pond with water. Concrete ponds are recommended to house hardy fish species like catfish, which can survive at a high stocking density. With a stocking rate of 100 fish per square meter, the pond can fit 1000 fish. Utilising best management practices, a farmer can harvest up to one tonne of fish in 9 months from the 3*4 metre pond.

From Mwangi’s experience, due to the water in the pond averaging a constant 35°C, fish reared in concrete greenhouses reach one kilogram (plate size) faster than those stocked in outdoor ponds. Pond liners also start to fray and need replacing after three to four years while concrete ponds last for over 20 years without needing much refur

Depending on the availability of materials used in its construction, a concrete 12 square meter greenhouse costs between Sh 50,000 and 80,000.

Anthony Mwangi: 0721847378

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Sunday, 06 December 2020 Good work. Will call to visit.

Tuesday, 06 October 2020 Following keenly ... Great Work

Thursday, 01 October 2020 Quite encouraging.... Kudos