Smart farms

: 30 January 2019; Hits: 10409

New quality based payment regulations to strengthen dairy sector in Kenya and improve farmers’ income

milk Fresh regulations by the Ministry of Agriculture to pay dairy farmers based on quality of the milk delivered as opposed to weight by March this year will strengthen the sector and improve the producers’ income.

According to a January this year report on Quality Based Milk Payment Study in Kenya by Irwin Foreman MSc, a dairy industry consultant, only a tiny fraction of Kenya’s milk production is exported due insufficient quality.

The report further indicates that in recent years a number of trade conflicts arose, when regional importing countries (Zambia, Tanzania) rejected products, processed in Kenya on the grounds that Kenya’s raw milk production was not up to the standard.

The quality-based pricing model will be influenced by the amount of butterfat in a kilogramme of raw milk, which should also be free from antibiotics and added water allowing processors to produce premium products like ghee and butter for local and export markets.

Livestock Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai says this is in response to milk safety concerns with some produce found to be contaminated with aflotoxin.

“Processors will be paying farmers based on quality as opposed to the quantity to ensure that farmers get the most out of their venture and discourage milk adulteration,” he said.

The current pricing model that relies on the weight of milk and does not fully reward farmers for high-quality husbandry.

The PS also said they are streamlining animal feeds industry to ensure that farmers get quality feeds, which plays an important role in the production of quality milk.

“We have a lot of low quality feeds out there and what we are trying to do is to ensure that there are laws in place to streamline manufacturing of feeds,” said Mr Kimutai.

Kenya Dairy Board managing director Margret Kibogy said they would ensure that Kenyans get high-quality milk.

“Some of the things that the regulations will address is the use of recommended containers and the need for pasteurisation of all milk that is dispensed,” she said.

How to improve milk quality

Dairy farmers in the country can keep to the quality standards of milk production both for local and international markets by first keeping good breeds of dairy cows that are high milk producers.

Tis is followed by clean milk production, disease control and facility hygiene which can be achieved by using aluminum containers for milking instead of plastic ones.

Farmers should also regularly test for mastitis so as to control contamination of milk.

Milk intended for consumption should be milked three days after the animals treated with antibiotics and seven days after calving to avoid contamination of milk with colostrums.

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: 29 January 2019; Hits: 20642

Former fine art expert finds steady income in raising seedlings

Ndungu holding seedlings James Ndung'u holding grafted avocado and tree tomato seedlings at his farm in Nyeri County. He also have about 2,000 yam tubers for sale. Photo courtesy.

A former fine artist who decided to leave a well-paying job three years ago due its one-off nature to start raising various plant seedlings such as tree tomato, hass avocado and passion for sale is now enjoying steady income from the new venture thanks to the ready market with high demand.

According to James Ndung’u, the demand for seedlings are always high with the peak season being during rainy season when sales shoot even higher as farmers are vigorously taking advantage of the much rain water to plant various crops.

“Beginning December last year, during the short rain period I sold over 250,000 tree tomato seedlings making between Sh20,000 to Sh50,000 per day. This is much more than Sh100,000 I used to earn once in a while from a piece of an art work which could come once in two months,” said Ndung’u.

James Ndung’u graduated from Buruburu School of Fine Art in 2001 and due to the nature of his work, he stated hustling from company to company of which most of them took him in on casual basis.

In 2015 he got a chance to travel to Burundi as a tractor driver and got exposed to yam farming at some farms in the landlocked country.

“I worked in Burundi between 2015 and 2016 with a Chinese construction firm. We could get free time to visit the nearby places when I came across a farm of yams which attracted me and I thought of trying the venture back home,” said the Nyeri agro-entrepreneur.

At the end of the company’s contract, Ndung’u revisited the farms bought some two tubers which he could plant and multiply for sale.

To his surprise, unlike the other varieties famers from the surrounding were growing, the yams yielded five to six kilos per tuber when they matured. The farmers then started seeking for the tubers which he sold to them at Sh100 each.

He got motivated and moved him into raising other seedlings such as hass avocado, passion, tree tomato, macadamia and pomegranate for sale.

Currently, he has over 2,000 tubers which he sells at Sh100 each, tree tomato seedlings goes at Sh80 each while grafted hass avocado seedlings sells at Sh90 each.

He offers free transport for his customers from the farm to Nyeri Town while the buyers are required to cutter for their own transport from there on.

Ndung’u also sells through social media platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp and his two acre piece of plot has become a model farm where other farmers from the region come to learn and be trained.

He can be reached on +254 711 500966

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: 24 January 2019; Hits: 7575

Census to help Kenyan crop growing farmers access subsidized fertiliser and markets

The government through the department of planning has announced plans to conduct the first ever census of crop growing farmers in Kenya in a move aimed at identifying genuine growers who will have access to subsidized fertilizer and market for their produce.

The farmers will be registered based on the acreage they own and the crops they grow.

The census will be taken on August 24^th and 25^th as part of the 2019 population and housing census. In the last census taken in 2009 only animal farmers (14 per cent) was taken while crop growers were left out by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

The headcount will help genuine farmers get first priority in distribution of subsidized fertilizer and market for their produce such as maize.

Last year, the government sold subsidized fertilizer to farmers at Sh1,200 down from Sh1,800 in 2017 while non-subsidized fertilizer costs Sh300 more.

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crop grow

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for instance reveal that in the 2017/18 season cartels imported maize worth two billion shillings from Uganda and sold it to the National Cereals and Produce Board depots in Western Kenya at the expense of genuine farmers.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers in Uganda use same maize varieties as those in Kenya and therefore it is difficult to distinguish the source of the produce delivered.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations agriculture contributes 26 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and another 27 per cent of GDP indirectly through linkages with other sectors. The sector employs more than 40 per cent of the total population and more than 70 per cent of Kenya's rural people.

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