Smart farms

: 23 October 2017; Hits: 38573

Production of Kales (Sukuma wiki) and Onions Using Bucket Drip Irrigation

Farmers can grow a variety of vegetables for their family and for sale using the bucket drip irrigation kit during the dry season by using only three buckets of water a day at most. This method is cheaper and effective as farmers can use readily available materials in their homesteads.

The bucket drip kit consists of a bucket and two drip tapes of 15m in length with holes (emitters) at 30 cm spacing. The bucket is supported one meter above the ground.

There are two main methods of preparing seed beds namely: double digging and planting on flat land. In dry areas (agro-ecological zones 4 and 5), practice double digging. In less dry areas (agro-ecological zone 3) you may use the conventional method of planting on flat land.

Kales production for family and for sale to earn income

Double digging

Measure a plot 1 m width 15 m length (1 step by step 15 steps)
Dig to a depth of 15 cm (length of palm of the hand)
Remove the dug soil and put it to one side of the dug portion
Cover the dug portion with green plant materials (e.g. banana leaves, young weeds, tree leaves, and green maize leaves) so that the ground is properly covered
Put farm yard manure to a depth of 5 cm
Mix the soil removed earlier and mix it well with a bucket (15 kilograms) of well decomposed animal manure, then return it on top
Flatten the seedbed and break large soil clods so that the bed is well leveled. You’re now ready to plant the vegetable seedlings.

Onion Production

The recommended varieties for dry areas are Red creole and Tropicana hybrid. Onions should be transplanted when onion seedlings attain a height of 7-8 cm (after about one and a half months after sowing in the nursery)

Planting on the drip seed bed

To mark where the onion rows will start on the drip bed, leave 20 cm from each side of the seed bed
Plant seedlings on two paired rows with the drip tape in between each pair
Spacing between the paired rows is 8 cm
Spacing between onion plants within the row is 4-5 cm
Plant seedlings shallowly about 2 cm deep • One seed bed carries 900-1000 onion plants

Pests

The most serious pest is the onion thrips. These are thin insects which cause silver spots and withering from the top of the leaves downwards. The pest is common during dry weather. To Control apply diemthoate or folimat when insects are noticed on the leaf sheaths.

Fungal diseases are the most serious. The most common is purple blotch causing purple spots on leaves and leaf curling. Eventually the plants die. Bulb rot occurs if onions are grown in the same field continuously and when the weather is wet. It is controlled by crop rotation with non-related crops eg. Kales, cabbages and carrots. You can also spray with Dithane or Mancozeb.

Production of Kales (Sukuma Wiki)

Recommended varieties are Thousand headed and Marrow stem. Transplant when plants are 3 weeks old or when they have four true leaves. They should be about 10 cm tall.

Plant at each drip hole (30 cm) and keep rows 2 feet apart. Apply one teaspoonful of CAN when plants are 8 inches (20 cm) high. After every 3 weeks repeat the fertilizer application. Apply 2 handfuls of manure in each planting hole when double digging is not practiced.

The most serious pests are caterpillars (produced by diamond back moth and cabbage saw fly) and aphids. Apply Karate when caterpillars are observed on leaves and dimethoate to control aphids.

The most serious diseases are black rot and leaf spot. Black rot attacks the stem and gives it a wet grey colour; when touched it feels slippery. The rot gives a characteristic offensive smell.

Always practice rotation to reduce incidence of black rot. Use non related plants eg. Onion, tomatoes, chillies and capsicum. Apply Dithane against fungal diseases eg. leaf spots.

Farmers have reported incomes ranging from KES. 80 to 200 per week from sale of sukuma wiki leaves. It is possible to earn KES. 3,000 to 4,000 from each crop of onions during the dry season.

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: 20 October 2017; Hits: 20439

Plastic mulching technology for enhanced yields

Farmers in drought stricken areas or with little rainfall are advised to adopt plastic mulching technology which is the practice of covering soil with polythene to make more favorable conditions for plant growth, development and efficient crop production.

Small-holder farmers can cut costs of irrigation and mechanization by adopting plastic mulching technology.

Ministry of Agriculture Extension officer Samuel Mburu says just like traditional organic mulch, which controls weeds and retained moisture content in soils, this method boosts harvests while reducing labor required in production process.

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Leek onions planted on plastic mulch at the 2017 Nairobi International Trade Fair 2017. PIC/JAPHET RUTO, FARMBIZ AFRICA

With depletion of vegetation, agro-companies have developed synthetic mulching materials from plastics for small and large-scale farmers with open fields or greenhouses.

Although polythene mulch complements drip irrigation especially on large-scale, Mburu says, it is equally appropriate for small-scale farmers like those with kitchen gardens.

“We have no more grass, weeds and other organic materials to cover soil to prevent water loss. Farmers want to bring more land under irrigation, but losing the water to evaporation will lead to high production costs. An investor would like to use little to earn more. Synthetic mulch comes in handy,” he says.

This practice is common with short season crops such as tomatoes, cabbage, kale, sunflowers, maize, and cucumbers, among others.

With climate change, the extension officer says, farmers in high rainfall areas are likely to suffer losses when it fails to fall due to altered patterns.

Types of plastic mulching technology

Polythene mulch

Made of polypropylene polymers or polyethylene polymers
It is bio-gradable but breaks down slowly
The polythene mulch can be removed manually at the end of the growing season
It can be recycled

Bio-gradable mulch

It is made from plant starches and sugars or polyester fibers
It breaks down fast hence reducing soil pollution
It cannot be re-used

These types of mulching increases water use efficiency by reducing evaporation and improving moisture distribution. It also modifies soil temperature encouraging faster germination and growth of crops. Plastic mulching increases nitrogen efficiency and prevents weed growth by 100%. It can increase yields by 23-90%.

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: 19 October 2017; Hits: 13717

Drying mangoes saves farmers post-harvest loses

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Mango farmers can save up to 60 percent post-harvest loses caused by lack of ready markets by drying mangoes and crushing them into powder. This way they will be increasing their shelf-life and getting more value out of them.

The powdered mangoes are easy to market because consumers will not be worried as to when the product will go bad. In this case yoghurt companies, cake bakers and even juice makers are just some of the potential buyers not to talk of numerous households which eat fruits as part of healthy living.

In Kenya the harvesting season for mangoes in most parts of the country especially in Ukambani and central Kenya regions starts from October through February. To avoid reoccurring of wastage due to lack of ready market and the fact that mangoes are fast-perishable goods, farmers in these regions have come up with solar drier system which help them dry their mangoes reducing the cost of production.

Kambiti village in Murang’a County is a good example with farmers who dry their mangoes for value addition. Farmers in this area do experience inadequate rainfall and the best they have found doing well is mango farming.

They have formed farmers group, Kambiti East Mango Self Help where they use biomass solar driers and grinders whose job is to convert dried mango peels into fine powder which to them some are used in making porridge. Biomass solar driers can be made at home of purchased the ready-made while grinder costs Ksh90,000 or an electric one that costs Ksh400,000 for commercial production.

Instead of selling their mangoes at five or seven shillings each, the already packaged powdered mangoes can fetch more cash according to the weight. For more income one needs 120 mangoes to produce 1 Kilogram of Powder which goes for Ksh1,000 on the market. 120 mangoes will cost you Ksh300 in the farm thus triple returns after value addition.

In real sense Ksh10,000 worth of mangoes would give you roughly Ksh30,000 in returns. Ksh100,000 worth of mangoes would give you Ksh300,000 in returns and this goes on depending on the investment applied.

Mango farmers in most parts of the country can enjoy such returns especially those in semi-arid Eastern region like Kirinyaga, Murang’a, Embu (Ishiara) and even Kitui which produce over 60% of Kenya’s mango harvest per year.