Machinery

: 02 May 2020; Hits: 8380

Fact sheet: Coffee pulping to lift smallholder earnings 6x

By Christine Mwaura

pulper Kenya’s coffee production and yields increased in 2019 following the government and counties’ distribution of free tree seedlings. But the biggest cause of farmers’ flight from coffee has been prices too low for smallholders’ survival. However, value addition, by processing beans on the farm, can lift the value of small-hold coffee crops six-fold.

In 2014, The Nation cited coffee farmer Grace Mwangi as processing the beans from 8 acres and earning over Sh30,000 per 50kg compared with little more than Sh5,000 for 50kg of raw beans. The kind of coffee pulper Grace was using can be bought for as little as Sh100,000, although the price depends on its size. But this kind of pricing makes coffee pulping an upgrade that pays for itself rapidly.

According to the 2020 Economic Survey the average coffee yield in 2019 was 347 kgs per hectare, meaning that a single hectare’s crop would generate an extra Sh175,000 in just one season through being processed on the farm, covering the cost of a pulper with just one crop.

Below are the contacts and prices being offered by some of the country’s leading suppliers of coffee pulp machines:

Modtec Engineering Kenya

Models: Jua Kali

Price: Sh100,000 to Sh450,000, complete unit coffee pulping machine and yearly services,

Features: High speed, single and double disk, manual, and electrical

Contact: 0739211820

Coffee Agriwork

Models: locally made

Price: Sh120,000 - Sh180,000

Features: The primary unit has a capacity of 1,200KGS/HR of coffee cherry. Various model have up-to 5,000KG/HR of coffee cherry. Comes with either engine or electric motors. Uses petrol or electricity.

Contacts: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

P.O. Box 64548-00620, Nairobi, Kenya

0724738959, 0731803913

McKinnon Machines Kenya

Model: McKinnon from India

Price: Sh130,000 - Sh6m depending on capacity

Features: Min disk, Engine Motor, and manual

Contacts: 0722957051, 0733957138

Marina Machineries (K) Ltd.

Models: Marina

Price: Sh175,000 - Sh300,000

Features: Multi disks

Contacts: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

020541785, 020553272, 020556685

0726155855, 0733635172, 0722857072

Waynays Africa Ltd

Models: Penagos from Colombia

Price: Sh200,000 - Sh600,000

Features: Single face Motor

Contacts: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

P.O. Box 7556-01000 Thika

0721202623, 0732922523.

Bewa Plaza, Muindi Mbingu, Thika Town.

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: 18 February 2020; Hits: 8033

Sunculture offers pay-as-you-go solar pumps that experts say can triple profits

EckdKvCXsAAwjuC By Jolene Njambi.

Solar technology for irrigation can triple profits for growers within one to two crop seasons, compared with using other forms of irrigation systems and rainfall, according to a new report.

International non-profit organization Winrock International, which specializes in solving social, agricultural and environmental challenges, has found solar water pumps increase farmers’ gross profits by up to 186 per cent within two crop seasons.

However, farmers frequently rely instead on inexpensive diesel water pumps, which are readily available to farmers who have limited resources to begin with. However, in the long-term, fuel and transport costs in buying fuel prove costly, even before the additional costs of employing staff to operate and manually irrigate the farms.

“For me, a solar irrigation kit is very important. Without it, we spend $300 a month, if not more, to buy diesel and employ three staff to water the crops throughout. With a solar irrigation kit, you reduce that to one, which brings about a 30 per cent reduction in the cost of labour as well as the savings on fuel,” said Peter Mathenge, a bullet chillies and garlic farmer.

.“If we are ever to get a breakthrough as farmers, we have to start embracing technology, and that’s what I’ve done,” adds Mathenge. “Without technology, on my eighth acre farm, I would harvest about 90 kgs per week of bullet chilies, now I am harvesting on average 160 kgs. And with my garlic, I would harvest a maximum of 4,000 kgs after four months, now I get up to 10,000 kgs which is 2.5 times more than I would have previously harvested.

”For John Mutugi, a farmer from Meru who grows and exports baby carrots, installing solar panels in his field has similarly helped to power a drip-fed irrigation system and improve his yield at minimal cost.

“I used to have problems with water but now I have none. Then, I used to use a water pump and during a dry spell I never got a good harvest or export. But now I’m exporting from January to December from the time I got the solar system installed,” he said.

However, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) AQUASTAT datasite, only 6 per cent of cultivated land is under irrigation in subSaharan Africa.

This is partly due to the lack of access to micro-irrigation systems for smallholder farmers, who together still produce up to 80 per cent of Africa’s output. This has led to increased urgency in finding alternatives to ensure that farmers can move to constantly reliable output.

A major challenge is the high initial costs and lack of smallholder credit options for solar irrigation, with a small portable kit for irrigation, for example, costing about $500, which is quite expensive for smallholders.

The Ministry of Energy has been promoting use of solar energy, but this has so been concentrated in funding the Solar for Schools programme and now extending this to off-grid clinics and dispensaries.

However, the private sector is also viewing solar energy as a business opportunity and venturing into providing climate friendly energy to poor communities. Through initiatives such as highly subsidized prices, social marketing and loan schemes, both businesses and non-profit organizations are now promoting the uptake of solar energy solutions by smallholders.

One such private entity is Sunculture.

“Food security in this continent is wanting. One of the biggest things we observed is that smallholder farmers in Africa don’t have access to the knowledge, capital or technologies that help them improve their yields,” said Samir Ibrahim, CEO and Co-Founder of SunCulture. To address this, his company has created the AgroSolar Irrigation Kit, which combines solar powered water pumping and drip irrigation. To prevent the cost from being a barrier to farmers in obtaining their solar kits, SunCulture has also adopted a Pay-As-You-Grow payment method, which allows farmers to pay in installments as their businesses progress.

With food security and nutrition as a leading item on the Big Four Agenda, optimizing solar energy use to empower small-scale farmers now promises the hope of a permanent solution

SunCulture can be reached on Phone: 0700 327002

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Wednesday, 28 October 2020 [quote=Patrick M odhiambo]am interested in the pay as you go program[/quote] Hi...

Monday, 26 October 2020 am interested in the pay as you go program

: 13 February 2020; Hits: 5289

Elgeyo-Marakwet invests in huge milk coolers to support county milk brand

nyala dairy milk cooler Dairy farmers belonging to over 11 cooperatives in Elgeyo-Marakwet County are set to benefit from more than 30,000 litre capacity milk coolers that the county, in partnership with the national government, is setting up in the area to cushion producers from losses incurred during rainy seasons.

In Kenya, each year around 95 million litres of milk are lost, at a value of around $22.4m per year. Losses are highest at the farm level, adding up to $15.4m a year. This is occasioned by milk spoilage, especially during the rainy season when production is at the peak, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

However, the move by the two governments offers some relief to dairy farmers, who in the past have been forced to pour away their milk in the event of any surfeit of the product, leading to losses and even exist from dairy farming.

heavy duty milk cooler 500x500 Livestock and Cooperative Development Executive Member Dr. Joseph Kiyeng said, during the commencement of the installation of 12 milk cooling plants across the county last week, that several farmers were reducing dairy production because of falling milk prices and the continuing rise in the cost of production.

“I know several of our farmers are almost abandoning dairy production owing to several challenges especially the cost of milk. With a cooler, we can negotiate with processors since we have a holding ground…our milk can wait for a day or two to get into the market,” said Kiyeng, adding that the milk coolers are expected to be fully operational by the end of March.

RELATED CONTENT: 25 cooperatives behind Nyeri County milk boom

Farmers from Korkitony, Bugar, Kipchiloi, Kaptarakwa and Kapteren Cooperative Societies are some of the groups that will each benefit from a 3200-litre milk cooler complete with a 30 KVA backup generator. Others are Kapsitotwa, Metkei, Kapsait FCS, Turesia and Kaptarakwa Farmers’ Cooperative Societies, while Sergoit Ngeny Dairy Farmers is having a 2000-litre cooler installed for them.

Bugar Farmers’ Cooperative Society Chairman William Kiptoo welcomed the installation of the cooler terming it as a breakthrough for farmers.

“We have a lot of milk around here (Bugar and its environs) and I was worried we could disappoint our farmers since we expect more to venture into the dairy sector following the expected purchase of cows through EDA in our ward. What we now need is having a reliable market - hopefully, we are headed to the right direction,” he said.

David Ruto from Kapsait said farmers were shifting from potato production to the dairy sector following the receding production of potatoes in the area. “We have not been producing (potatoes) as before…I think we need options and dairy production is the way to go. I thank the county government for coming to our rescue,” he said.

Dr Kiyeng assured farmers of better milk prices adding that the department was already engaging the national milk processor, The New Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC), so that they could buy milk from the coolers.

Recently, the newly appointed Agriculture Cabinet Secretary Peter Munya directed the KCC to start purchasing milk from farmers at Sh33 per litre, up from Sh27.

In a parallel move aimed at reducing the cost of production, Dr Kiyeng also said the county will install a livestock feed formulation plant at Kabiemit, silage making equipment in Sengwer, and continue the vaccination of livestock and offering subsidized AI services to farmers.

He said the county’s vision in adding value to milk produce was to facilitate all cooperative societies in the county in selling their milk under the ELMA brand. “This has always been the vision of His Excellency Governor Alex Tolgos and I am happy we are headed there. Once our coolers operate at the optimum, we will bulk our milk and have it processed under and sold under the trade name ELMA milk,” he said.

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