Smart farms

: 17 July 2016; Hits: 15650

Group earns six times from banana value addition

A Nyamira County youth group, which moved to value addition, has increases the earnings from one banana finger by more than six times as demand for other products of the fruit continues to surge.
Afro Ochieng, an official of Misire Youth Group, said one finger of a banana, which usually costs Sh5 when sold ripe or raw can be chopped into crisps before packaging for sale.
He says it is the commonest way of adding value to the banana because it has a shelf-life of more than two weeks.
“An average finger gives crisps worth Sh30 while bigger ones can earn up to Sh50 net profit after packaging and frying,” he said.

Banana cake.JPG

Do the maths
A banana of 80kg has about 1,500 fingers of varied weights. On average, if each finger gives crisps of Sh30, then the entire fruit would earn a gross income of Sh45,000.
The same banana when sold for plantain or ripening would hardly fetch Sh1,500.
Apart from cooking, bananas are baked into loaves of bread, cakes of various types, biscuits, among other products.

READ ALSO: Super fertilizer that add 10 kilos to banana yields
Baking money from bananas
The group, which has more than 50 members, bakes cakes, loaves of bread, biscuits as well as selling flour, Ochieng said.
A banana of 30 kg is processed into four and half kilos of flour, which fetch Sh900 when sold raw.
“Processing four kilos of banana flour requires at least two and half kilos of charcoal or saw dust of the same mount in the baking process. When mixed with wheat flour in the same ratio, we make 30 loaves of 400g from the four kilos,” he said.

READ ALSO: Kisii farmers triple earnings making banana queen cakes
No waste
The Nyamusi Sub-county youth group, which is sponsored by the World Vision, sells the loaves of bread and cakes to major retail outlets like supermarkets in the Nyanza and rift valley regions.
A 400g loaf of bread costs Sh40.

READ ALSO: Vitamin A rich bananas to the rescue of E. Africans
The green covers of the banana are also ground into flour for sale. He says tests have shown the covers are rich in vitamin A. The powder also boosts immunity besides decreasing the severity of ulcers.

PHOTO:Afro OchIEng displays baked banana products at the Kisii agricultural showground on July 15,2016. Misire Youth group earns more than six times from banana value addition. PHOTO BY LABAN ROBERT.

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: 16 July 2016; Hits: 12791

Chamber halves banana ripening days, doubles group earning

A Nyamira County youth group using a banana ripening polythene chamber has cut by half the number of days of turning the fruits to yellow for the market besides doubling revenue earned per harvest.

Traditional ripening using banana and other ethylene emitting leaves takes between 10 and 14 days.

But Rigesa Youth Group Chairman Vincent Oyaro said the 8,000 banana fingers capacity chamber reduces the days. By the fourth day the bananas are ready for marketing.

“The transparent chamber helps in accumulating the little gas produced by the harvested. Rising levels of ethylene gas start turning the cover of the bananas yellow by the end of the first day. By the second day, yellowing bananas emit more of the gas, which quickens the process into the flesh,” Oyaro said.

Ripe banana markets

The group supplies bananas to business people in Kisumu, Kisii, Kebirigo, Kericho among other markets in the Nyanza and Rift Valley regions. They ripen upon orders from the traders.

In hastening the process in the three compartments, about 10 avocados and passion fruits are put in the lowest chamber.

Ethylene gas is a compound of carbon and hydrogen that causes fruits to turn yellow.

“Avocados and passion fruits are ‘catalysts’ in this process because they release a lot of ethylene. Passion fruits start ripening while at the shamba. Bringing them to the chamber means ready release of good quantity of the gas,” the chairman said during the Kisii Agricultural Society of Kenya Show 2016.

Setting the fingers

Among the Abagusii, a heavy herbaceous plant called Omoroka, is used to cover the fruits because it produces the same gas in large quantities when in a tightly tied sack or compartment.

The about three-by-four-by-eight feet holding structure has three compartments. The bananas are arranged in three or four-finger bunches facing down.

They should, however, be aired for about a day before putting them in the camber to avoid bursting after ripening.

Ripe profits in ripening

A mature well grown tissue culture banana of about 80 kilogrammes can have 2,000 banana fingers. If sold green for cooking or ripening, it fetches between Sh1,100 and Sh1,300. But allowing it to ripen in the chamber for the three days, its value shoots to above Sh3,000.

The upper bigger fingers fetch Sh20 when sold in threes while the smaller middle ones earn Sh5 each; the smallest fingers are sold at three for Sh10.

Beneficiaries

The Nyamusi Sub-county youth group, which is funded by the World Vision-an international non-governmental organisation, is helping more than 50 members who deliver their bananas to a common ripening centre. They source a market together.

At the centre, the groups also bakes the bananas into cakes, chops crisps and other products in their value addition chains.

Danger in chemicals

Reports of urban ripe banana sellers using chemicals to hasten the process have regularly hit the social media. There are fears that the chemical have side effects, with cancer being the most common disease blamed. There are, however, no confirmed cases linking the chemical to any type of cancer. The worry is that the chemicals are not authorised for this use.

Oyaro can be reached on +254710174733

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: 12 July 2016; Hits: 14649

Parachute farming saves urbanites over Sh1,000 vegetables expenses

Urban dwellers can save more than Sh1,000 spent on vegetables per month by recycling plastic containers into parachute vegetable gardens.

The containers, which have to be hanged along strong roof edges, are filled with soil.

Kenya Prisons Service agricultural officer Fredrick Misoi, who has been practicing this farming for more than two years, said utilisation of aerial space can help urban dwellers save on the vegetable expenditure besides giving them a variety of greens.

This method got the name 'parachute' because of the suspension of the soil and the crops, away from the ground. They remain airborne always.

Misoi, however, cautioned that the container must be tied well to the eave rafters to avoid the danger of falling and injuring people.

“Aerial farming only requires a strong holder of the soil container. This parachute garden allows one to grow a mix of vegetables just outside their houses, even when ground space is limited,” he said.

parachute farming.JPG

Veges to grow

Some of the common vegetables that do not miss in most urban resident delicacies include capsicums, onions, kales, coriander, spinach, among others.

Black nightshade (managu), spider flower (saga), nderema, and many other expensive traditional vegetables, which have to be got from rural areas, can be propagated in this aerial garden.

A family of four will require an onion, a capsicum, coriander, one and four bunches of spinach and kales for a simple ugali delicacy. One onion, capsicum, coriander, cost Sh5 in middle-level settlements. A bunch of kales and spinach also cost Sh5 in the same area.

One will need Sh40 for vegetables alone for such a simple meal. Even with a variation on the type of delicacy, one will spend at least Sh40 to buy these essential for various combinations of food. This translates to about Sh1,200 per month.

The same family may require spider flower or black nightshade of Sh100 to complete an ugali delicacy.

Congestion is good

A 20litre bucket can host between five and eight crops- black nightshade, spider flower, kales, spinach, nderema, cow peas-at the same time, constable Misoi said.

“Spacing does not matter in this case. Various vegetables have different mineral demands. Despite being congested, they will not compete for the same nutrients. Tall types like the spider flower will utilise upper space while the lower room will be for short varieties like black nightshade and spinach,” he said.

Poultry and other small animals will feed on them. Similarly, selective pests that destroy one variety will not affect the other, therefore, the farmer will enjoy continuous supply of vegetables.

Parachute is pollution solution

Plastic containers do not decompose easily. They present an environmental challenge to dispose, for both urban and rural residents.

“Cracked plastic containers are no longer useless. They can be turned into rich orchards from where one harvests various vegetables every day, while enjoying the varied nutritional benefits. We have tried it and it is working well,” he said.

Irrigation of such crop is easy too. Plastics hold water. If one pours one or two litres of water per day, they are sure most of it will be utilised by the plants, although little may be lost through evaporation.

Water distribution

For proper distribution of water, the officer, said a layer of small stones has to be put at the centre of the parachute garden.

One requires a tube, which is to be placed at the centre of the container before filling the outside with soil. The tube will be filled with the small stones. It will be removed leaving the stones behind.

Kitchen remains can also be recycled into manure for the parachute gardens.

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