Smart farms

: 19 September 2022; Hits: 1887

Bomet graduate transforming agriculture through technological innovation

mutai In many parts of Kenya, the youth are transforming their communities through use of modern technology. From the rural areas to the urban centers, the story is the same. The country’s digital generation is playing a big role in spurring development in the country.

With use of new technology, communities are beginning to enjoy newly found wealth in the agricultural sector which has benefitted many smallholder farmers.

In Bomet County, it is not the beautiful scenery with lush green tea farms but Robert Mutai’s success farming story that is attractive. Mutai is a young farmer who is using modern technology to transform farming in his local community. Using innovative agricultural techniques; he is now one of the most enterprising farmers in his area.

“The sort of farming I practice is kind of mixed; I grow potatoes, cabbages, beans, maize and onions” said Mutai.

Despite having a degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice, he decided to venture into farming. Initially, this did not go down well with his parents.

“My parents did not want me to involve myself in dirty work like farming, but the way I see it and making money out of it, it isn’t dirty actually, so I decided not to follow my career but rather divert it to farming which is my passion” says Mutai. But With time he says his parents have started to appreciate his efforts and have started offering some assistance.

His secret to getting maximum profit is through mixed farming. Potatoes are one of the crops he is cultivating in his farm.

“Potato farming is profitable because in my half an acre of land, I am assured of 30 bags with one 50 kg bag of fetching me between 4,000 to 5,000 shillings depending on the market demand.”

Mutai has to grapple with some challenges including infestation by bacterial wilt disease which he notes has no chemical cure hence sometimes leads to loss of expected yields.

“When growing my potatoes, I start with primary cultivation then secondary followed by tertiary cultivation then the farm is ready for planting”

Mutai uses 100 kg of fertilizer and 10 bags of potato seeds on 1 acre of land.

There are also a variety of beans which are under cultivation in his land. He plants beans after harvesting potatoes because according to him at that time the land is still smooth and there are no weeds. He also requires beans to fix nitrogen in the soil for free.

Mutai also saw an opportunity in planting sorghum and millet which he acknowledges to be inadequate in the market meaning they earn more income due to high demand. He is assured of 600 kg of millet and 700 kg of sorghum per planting season.

Being able to understand the market helps the farmer reaps profits. He is working with other youth in his area and other parts like Murang’a where he is able to reach them using his mobile phone.

“Farming is meant for the youth because they are stronger, and they can apply use of modern technology easily to improve production” adds Mutai. The 27 year old is now a shining light in his local village and his age mates are following in his footsteps.

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: 19 September 2022; Hits: 1898

Kiambu dairyman raises milk output, reduces treatment costs via breeding

Artificial Insemination

Selecting the right bull which has desirable qualities to serve his cows so that it can pass the characteristics into his dairy cows has been Geoffrey Ng'ang'a, dairy farmer from Wangige in Kiambu County’s secret weapon in getting high milk yields and quality calves than he used to two years ago.

“I was milking 18 litres of milk per cow compared to the current 24litres per cow. I also used Sh500 per week on treatment of my cows and sometimes with the worry of difficulties my cows experienced during delivery I had to hire an expert at a fee every time a cow was about to give birth to help just in case,” he said.

Ng’ang’a’s cows often developed many problems including complications that lead to still births, stunted calves, poor fertility, frequent diseases and even deformities in his cows which are some of the bad traits inherited from certain bulls. This made him realize low milk production and low demand of his heifers in the market.

“When it came to breeding, I used to mate my cows with my own bulls or those from the neighbouring farmers regardless of whether the animals could be related or the health status of the bulls. Sometimes I ended up mating the cow’s daughter with the father, which would cause inbreeding (mating closely related animals) affecting health and productivity of my cows,” said ng’ang’a.

A friend advised him to visit Kenya Animal and Genetics Resource Centre (KAGRC) in Lower Kabete for inquiries and this is where things started changing.

He has realised that breeding is key in dairy farming, his cows have improved on milk production, his calves are no longer lost before birth anyhow nor do his heifers look undesirable in the market thanks to proper breeding knowledge he got from the centre.

“I practice Artificial Insemination (AI) by the help of an expert who selects the semen from high quality bulls to fertilise my cows. I also do natural inseminating whereby upon observing the heat signs in my cows I chose healthy and unrelated bulls to my cows to mount them,” said Ng’ang’a.

Ng’ang’a who started with just a dairy cow now has five dairy cows of which three are lactating. He has observed increase in milk production among his cows since he adopted the proper breeding system. “I now milk 144 litres a day from my three cows against 108 litres I could milk from three cows per day before,” he said.

He currently has two female Friesian heifers of about 380kg which are ready for market. The two goes for Sh75, 000 each, he said.

According to KAGRC Livestock expert Eliud Mwangi, breeding is an important aspect of modern dairy farming anywhere but most small-scale farmers lack even the most basic skills in dairy cow breeding which is a big problem to the development of the livestock industry in the country.

Mwangi advices that for the farmers using AI record keeping of the bulls whose semen has been used to serve their cows is important because this helps avoid inbreeding cases. “Artificial Insemination records which include the name of the bull whose semen was used, date and age at service, number of times the cow has been inseminated, calvings and serving intervals should be well kept,” he said.

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: 18 September 2022; Hits: 2001

Automated fruit drying machine points farmers to ripe profits

Sweet n Dried founder Mercy Mwende

Over 500 smallholder farmers in Tharaka Nithi, Meru and Embu counties have found ready market for their horticultural produce, thanks to an automated air drier that is also shielding them from market glut and post-harvest related losses that account for up to 40 per cent of all fresh produce losses.

Operated by Sweet ‘N Dried Enterprises, a company in Tharaka Nithi County, the venture has also rubberstamped the benefits accrued from value addition, with the produce enjoying extended shelf life, allowing the farmers to earn more while creating over 50 jobs that have gone to the local community.

The ultra-modern drier that has been funded by the USAID through the Kenya Value Chains Enterprises (KAVES) project has a capacity of drying 300kgs of fresh produce daily and complements the company’s solar driers that cumulatively handle 1200kgs.

Speaking during the commissioning of the processing facility, Mercy Mwende the founder of Sweet ‘N Dried Enterprises hailed the facility as landmark in diversifying markets and increasing earnings of fresh produce farmers.

“We have been on a seven year journey that has been marked by numerous trials and errors. Ultimately the markets have warmed up to our dried mangoes, bananas and vegetables. The new facility has also boosted production and we have now been able to source 100,000kgs of fresh produce from farmers, up from 40,000kgs last year. This means more market opportunities for our farmers, majority who have traditionally been forced to throw their produce due to post harvest losses or sell them cheaply as they battle market glut,” Ms. Mwende said.

Her flagship mango varieties, Kent, Tommy and Apple have received thumbs up from Thailand, Dubai, China and Germany where she has showcased them. And as the demand for dried mangoes burgeons in these markets, she is looking to upscale production at the farms, storage and processing for continuous shipping of the processed products. This, as statistics indicate the export markets are increasingly preferring dried mangoes due to their extended shelf life and low cost.

Dr. Steve New, KAVES Chief of Party said that with smallholders being the most efficient producers of fresh produce per unit area, it was necessary to streamline the value chain to ensure they reap maximum benefits from their venture from production to markets. Research, he said, had shown that there was need to embrace innovation to boost production. “The global market for tropical fruits especially mango, passion and pineapple has been ballooning over the years. But there is a growing trend where these markets prefer dried produce due to logistical factors. This has informed our interest at Kaves in investing in this and other projects, because we believe they have great potential to open up new and profitable frontiers for millions of farmers and growing their household income,” he said.

But Sweet and Dried Enterprise has had to battle with quality of the produce supplied by farmers who are not conversant with international standards. While the enterprise itself has undergone the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, HACCP, assessment and expects to be certified by early next year, it is struggling to ensure all the produce received from farmers meet the growing conditions of the export markets. “We have over 500 farmers who supply to us and while majority of their produce is export quality, we still have cases where we reject produce either because we detect too much fertilizer usage in some of the produce like bananas or pests in mangoes. We would wish to reach a point where all our farmers are able to supply to us without any rejections,” she said.

Leonard Pollara, a consultant on global certification working at the facility agrees. “While Sweet ‘N Dried are doing everything possible to ensure every process in the chain meets the requisite international standards, there are of course factors beyond their control like supplies or poor road network that might interfere with the quality of the end product. This new facility will go a long way in ensuring faster adherence to the highest safety standards. The certification process itself is quite capital intensive,” Mr. Pollara said.

The county government of Tharaka Nithi has therefore committed to partner with the company to train all the farmers supplying their produce on international best practices while connecting the facility, that currently operate on solar energy, to the grid. “In the spirit and the vision of the county government of Tharaka Nithi, and the national government’s resolve to embrace value addition to improve lives of our farmers, the county government will train all the farmers on growing food for export including the requirements by international markets. This together with connecting this facility to the national grid to bolster production will ensure that we attract more of our people, especially the youth into new age and mechanized agriculture as a meaningful way of earning income,” Tharaka Nithi Agriculture CEC Engineer Japhet Nkanya said. The announcement has come as relief to the company that has been operating on diesel generator becoming prohibitively expensive to run daily operations.

And as the new facility roars to life, representing the resilience of a Kenyan entrepreneur, it has also demonstrated the promise of value addition to diversify income and opportunities for small holder farmers while helping the country attain the middle income status by 2030. “With post harvest losses accounting for about 40 per cent of all losses, the focus should be on how to tame these losses rather than on having new produce varieties. Reducing these losses through value addition has proven that we can improve the productivity of our farmers while developing competitive value chains,” said the doctor.

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