Machinery

: 07 April 2021; Hits: 2759

Mbita start-up reduces fishing costs by 25% with electric boat

photo bateau asobo 1

By George Munene

ASOBO, a Mbita based start-up founded in 2019 leverages electric engine power that reduces the daily cost of operating fishing boats by around 25 per cent.

Given the upfront cost of purchasing the electric motors are high; the company offers the e-boarders as a long-term rental with the daily rental rates on average lower than what fishers currently spend. This enables them to save money in the long run.

Included will also be the full financing of the system, daily recharging of the batteries, all necessary maintenance and repairs, training of boat owners and crew and a 24/7 helpline with rescue back-up.

Speaking to How we made it in Africa company co-founder Laurens Friso explains; “The primary issue for the consumers is cost, and fuel is by far the biggest contributor. Fishers have very little leverage when buying petrol or diesel. There is also a high degree of unreliability and maintenance expense that comes with a traditional petrol or diesel engines, along with a high upfront cost. With our electric engines, the daily cost is on average around 25 per cent cheaper, and our service model means the costs are a lot more predictable, which makes things a lot easier if, for example, there is a bad catch on a particular day.”

Using electric outboard engines – e-Boarders – powered by renewable energy also improves the livelihoods of people depending on Lake Victoria by greatly reducing harmful emissions and pollutants of the lake’s ecosystem. This is especially important given 76 per cent of the lake’s fish species are threatened by extinction which will have a bearing on the livelihoods of 30-50 million people.

Fishermen are able to acquire the electric outboard engines on a pay-as-you-go basis. Their incomes the company points out will increase as tens of thousands of small-scale fishers in Lake Victoria often waste money on inefficient, inconvenient, unreliable, and highly polluting petrol outboard engines. The electric-powered engines promise predictability, reliability, and affordability, whilst being comfortable and safe.

The e-boats run on 24-3500 battery with 3.5 kWh that comes with a backup service in case anything goes wrong. They are developed by Torqeedo, a German global leader in developing electric outboard motors.

Phone: +254 114 833 688

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: 09 March 2021; Hits: 12876

Farmers half costs with ripper ploughing in conservation agriculture

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By George Munene

Through the use of ripper ploughs in conservation agriculture farmers are able to halve their production cost while advantaging themselves in ways not accessible to farmers practicing traditional conventional agriculture.

“In conventional agriculture, land preparation before planting entails first ploughing, this in Western Kenya costs a farmer Sh3000 for every acre. This is then preceded by a second ploughing which costs a similar amount. After planting farmers often practice their first and second weeding; 10 hands can weed an acre of land with each paid Sh300 for the day's work. In all, this sets a farmer back Sh12,500,” explains Geoffrey Wanjala, a field agronomist who is also Busia’s Farmer Service Centers Senior Agribusiness Coordinator.

With ripping, in conservation agriculture farmers are whittling down this to just Sh5,500 an acre. This constitutes Sh2,500 in charges for hiring a tractor-mounted ripper; buying herbicides as well as the option of hiring spray service providers each costing Sh500. In maize farming, an additional Sh1,500 is used in weeding herbicides coupled with a similar Sh500 charge in spraying cost.

Ripping services are accessible to farmers across the country through satellite Farmer Service Centres available in 12 counties across the country. This is a network of over 300 agricultural extension workers that help farmers aggregate their ploughing land to make it commercially feasible for ploughing service providers to work on smaller land sizes. “We have availed this service to farmers across most counties in Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley and Eastern regions,” Wanjala says.

Moreover, conservation agriculture has many other advantages that include: preserving soil structure and the intactness of soil microorganisms as the soil is minimally tilled; increasing soil fertility; reduction of water erosion—rippers are fitted with tines that penetrate the soil to a depth of up to 30 centimeters, this increases water percolation and reduces water runoff. Also, by perforating deep into the soil profile, ripping gives crop roots access to leached minerals.

Disk ploughs and hand-held hoes can only reach a depth of 10-15 centimeters, this creates a hardpan that encourages erosion when it rains by preventing water from trickling into the soil. This hardpan also causes lateral rooting which means crops are easily susceptible to drought.

Moisture conservation in arid regions—decomposing crop residue forms mulch which cools the environment around the plant’s roots. It also provides warmth over the cold season improving crop performance.

Ripping creates furrows or rip lines where fertilisers and seeds are then sowed in manually or through use of tractor mounted planters. This further reduces production costs by eliminating the need for digging holes or furrows. “Once a farmer has conducted two or three ripping sessions which would have completely broken soil hardpans, they can entirely practice zero tillage which exerts even less in planting costs by totally doing away with ploughing,” Emmanuel says.

Rippers are however limited in their use as they cannot be used to break ground for crops such as potatoes which first require to be ploughed vertically with chisel ploughs to break hard pans before ripping.

As more farmers embrace the use of ripping in land preparation, Wanjala argues the technology’s costs are only bound to reduce; “ripper mounted tractors consume less fuel than the ones fitted with disc ploughs. This makes their operationalisation far cheaper for ploughing service providers. There is currently a dearth of ripper ploughs but as more farmers opt for the use of this technology there is bound to be a corresponding increase in its service provider which will lead to a reduction in the pricing of ripping services,” he argues.

Farmer Service Centre

Geoffrey Wanjala: 0710454130

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: 13 February 2021; Hits: 4401

Plantix-the agronomist mobile app changing millions of farmers' fortunes

homescreen en By George P. Munene

Plantix is a mobile crop advisory app that helps farmers and extension workers diagnose issues with their crops and offers appropriate treatment measures. All this is available at a click of a button and at no cost to the farmer.

“Since I started using the app early last year my input cost has fallen by about a third while my yield output has almost doubled,” testifies Antony Ndwiga, a vegetable farmer at Makutano, Meru.

Plantix employs image recognition software that scans the precise pest, disease or nutrient deficiency and gives an immediate brief reply on the cause of the problem and the possible chemical and biological remedies.

According to the Plantix team, farmers who cannot download the app are also catered to as they can send pictures of their afflicted crops over WhatsApp and get a prompt diagnosis.

Added to this the app also helps farmers gain knowledge on the best farming practices for most major crops, crop diseases preventative measures as well as offering a tailored fertiliser application calculator.

First released in 2015,Plantix, christened the “mobile crop doctor” is proving a god sent for many crop farmers. “Getting ahold of reliable agronomic help is a major hustle; private agronomists are expensive while government extension officers will be ‘on the way to your farm’ for weeks. With Plantix’s integration of WhatsApp all I do is send a picture of my afflicted crop and have a clear diagnosis and possible remedy in short order.” explains Ndwiga.

Farmers can access localised weather forecasts for at least five days; participate in an online community of fellow farmers and scientists to discuss all matters crop farming. Farmers also get agricultural advice throughout the various planting seasons, post-harvest management and receive alerts if there's a crop disease spreading in their region.

The app is user friendly, having an intuitive easy to master interface available in 18 local dialects--these features are crucial for most farmers who are older and not especially technologically conversant

“I have had little need for a plant health expert since I began using Plantix-- I very much walk around with my very own pocket agronomist these days.” Antony says. With over 10 million downloads, many other farmers can testify to this.

Plantix on WhatsApp; +917876171002

Plantix app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.peat.GartenBank&hl=en&gl=US

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Tuesday, 16 February 2021 [quote=Team Plantix]Thank you, George, for this article! You mentionend the What...

Monday, 15 February 2021 Thank you, George, for this article! You mentionend the WhatsApp bot, so I wante...