Machinery

: 12 October 2022; Hits: 764

Naivasha farm offers Africa’s only tractor operation vocational training

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By George Munene

Located in Naivasha, Manera farm offers Africa’s only tractor vocational course. Through a three-day theoretical and practical course, learners are taught how to operate tractors, service and maintain them as well as safety precautions to take when handling them.

The birth child of Claudia Torres, who is also a horticulture farmer, the training school started in 2015 after she took on agriculture consultancy and realised that there was major room for improvement in the management, operations, and servicing of tractors across Kenyan farms.

“We realised many farmers often bought expensive tractors that they weren't entirely sure how to handle or repair. Tractor drivers-- who often learned on the job-- also have gaps in their knowledge of its operation that we are looking to plug. Our goal is to develop a culture of good mechanised farming.

Many farmers destroy their main source of capital-- their soil-- when pursuing mechanised farming. We strive to strike a balance between getting your machinery to improve your yields while safeguarding the long-term profitability of your farm,” she illuminated.

The farm also offers a short team mechanic improvement course. This again fills a market gap as there is a dearth of tractor-specialised mechanics given most learned their trade operating on cars which leaves them under-equipped to fix farm machinery.

Tertiary courses in irrigation, pest control, and scouting are also given at Manera.

To date, the farm has had over 864 trainees, majorly from large farms. Most employers are reimbursed the Sh20,000 training fee by The National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) if they had been paying the Sh50 per employer monthly levy to the autonomous government parastatal charged with ensuring there is quality trained manpower across all levels of industry in the country.

Once they are through with the training learners are awarded NITA certificates which makes them highly employable in the field.

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"We train farmers how to operate machinery across different soil types and terrains as well as working with various crop types. This has meant we have trainees from across the breadth of Kenya and as far out as Uganda,” informed Claudia.

The three-day course is tailored to individual trainees: what implements they use on their farm--which is informed by the crop(s) they grow. “We have their farm manager send an itinerary of all this to ensure the training is not abstract, but as practical to their actual farm life as is possible,” she noted.

On the first day, learners are taught safety precautions to take when handling tractors followed by a course on how to service and maintain tractors on the second day.

The third and final day is spent on field and land tractor operations, covering everything from how to set up various tractor-drawn equipment and farm operations.

“Most tractor drivers are turnboys who have learned through observation and copying-- most often know what they are doing but we look to fill in gaps in knowledge they inevitably have.

Tractor operators are also often reticent to ask their supervisor questions for fear of being perceived as incompetent or showing that their higher-ups themselves aren't as knowledgable,’ Torres explained. This fosters a culture of incompetence in many farms.

For learners who cannot commute, room and board are offered at the farm at a fee.

Manera Farm: 0722 206939

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: 21 September 2022; Hits: 579

Small-scale potato farmers resort to stick harvesting to curb waste

Irish potato harvesting Patrick Njenga Kiambu By Laban Robert

With reports showing that one in every five kilos of food produced in Africa goes to waste during and after harvest, Kiambu County farmer has resorted to sticks in harvesting Irish potatoes to reduce reducing injuries.

Harvesting tuber and root crops with hoes and other sharp objects not only reduces their shelf-life but also slashes the marketability in half.

“Cut Irish potatoes fetch half the price. Farmers do not want stay with them for long because by the fourth day after harvesting, they start depreciating in quality; and with a jembe or hoe, about one in three out of 10 potatoes may be scratched or cut. That is why I started using sticks in harvesting,” Patrick Njenga said.

International Institute of Tropical Agriculture post-harvest Researcher Adebayo Abass recently said Tanzania that inappropriate technologies for harvesting, transportation, storage and processing lead to spoilage of food.

When, for example a root tuber is cut, the flesh is exposed to pests and other germs, which initiate and accelerate the rate of spoilage.

If a two-kilogramme tin costs Sh80 at Kimende, near Njenga’s home, spoilt pieces in the same container may fetch between Sh30 and Sh40 when sold to hotels and other immediate consumers.

This is devaluation by more than half, yet the product has consumed factors of production for more than three months, the farmer said.

Going by the overall research, at least eight 110kg bags will be spoilt out of the total 40 harvested, marking the start of losses from an acre. Currently, a 110kg bag sells at Sh3,000 in Nairobi. The loss translates to Sh12,000 for the eight sacks instead of Sh24,000.

“Potatoes are grown on ridges. Demolishing them by hand is easy because the raised soil is still loose. A stick helps in case the tubers have got past the normal soil level, which happens less often,” he said.

While Irish and sweet potatoes may be edible within the first five days after harvest even with the cuts, cassava is more vulnerable. It starts to spoil within 48 hours if harvested with cuts.

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: 21 September 2022; Hits: 630

Innovative device informs farmers when to irrigate avoiding nutrient loss

aquachek diagram

While farmers are adopting irrigation for crop production on dry spells, a study has established that unmonitored water may lead to loss of more than half of the nutrients through leaching.

A research by the Crop Nutrition Services Limited found that farmers lose up to 60 per cent of nutrients to the lower soil regions where crop roots my not reach. This leads to low productivity as the crops remain stunted as well as failure to meet the nutrients required for various functions like flowering.

“In irrigation of 16m3 per acre in one day, there was evidence of strong nutrient leaching in all sites with nitrates and calcium being the most lost at 60cm and 90cm depth,” the study revealed.

Crop Nutrition Agronomist Emmanuel Kibet said ‘blind irrigation’ does not give farmers value for their money.

Aquacheck-soil moisture probe is an irrigation system that allows farmers to manage their irrigation efficiently, it measures moisture up to six depths and even beyond (has sensors at each 10cm depth).

This allows the farmer to know the moisture levels all the way down the rooting depth thus allowing them to decide when it is right time to irrigate and what amounts of water to irrigate. Different soil types have different properties and holds different amount of water, he said.

“Leaching lead to loses of nutrient before utilisation by the crop. A farmer will be tempted to increase the frequency of fertiliser application when they notice the health of the crop is diminishing. With accurate data on how much water is available in the soil for the crop, a farmer can regulate the irrigation frequency for optimum results,” he said.

Reducing the irrigation –when not necessary from the available data- intervals decreases pumping, labour, and water bill costs.

Mr Kibet is working with farmers in Kiambu County, soil moisture sensors are being used to determine the amount of water required for the crops to do well.

The sensor, also known as Aquacheck, is installed in the soil where it keeps track of the amount of available water moisture against soil particles at a two hour interval.

The data is sent to a computer or a smart phone, where it is presented in graphs. The trained farmer interprets the results for action, the agronomist said.

If the water is sufficient, one can skip irrigation until there is need.

For one piece sufficiently monitors a maximum area of up to three acres. It can also be used in greenhouses.

Although the initial cost may be high for most small-scale farmers, Mr Kibet said the accumulated saving from the irrigation and leaching are worth investment.

With the statistics, it means that excess irrigation can drain 30kg out of 50kg applied on a given piece of land.

Kibet can be reached on +254720646976

Crop Nutrition office: +254 736 839933, + 254 720 639933

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