Machinery

: 08 April 2019; Hits: 6828

E-wallet roll out to enable farmers access government subsidies

Jeremy Musila French beans Farmer applying fertiliser to his crops. The govenmet is set to roll out a system which will help such farmers acces subsidies with much ease.

The government of Kenya is planning to roll out an e-wallet scheme across the country for farmers to equip themselves with relevant IT skills as well as access government subsidies on fertiliser, seeds and drugs among other farm inputs.

This is opposed to the current situation where the producers are forced to follow long protocol systems to access such information.

According to Agriculture Principal Secretary Hamas Boga, this his has been necessitated by the need to encourage the youth to venture into agriculture as a succession plan for the aging farming population.

Currently, the average age of a Kenyan farmer is 65 years with the aging population presenting a challenge in agricultural production.

To mitigate against this, the government is encouraging the youth to venture into agriculture as the sector becomes more mechanized and technology driven to boost production.

Boga says the government will soon digitize all extension and subsidies services in a bid to curb malpractices.

Automation is expected to encourage financial institutions to increase credit to agriculture and encourage more agricultural innovations to increase production.

The World Bank has rolled out a programme to digitally register over one million farmers in the country who would be offered information about farming and markets.

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: 03 April 2019; Hits: 5796

Taita Taveta County to construct a Sh116m banana processing plant to boost the crop’s farming in the area

Ronald Nyagaka the class four drop out farmer in kenya banana

Taita Taveta County in partnership with European Union (EU) is planning to put up a Sh116m banana processing plant to boost the crop’s production in the area which has been dominated by maize farming.

According to a 2014 national government Household Baseline Survey report in the county, 90 per cent of the total households grew maize, 46.4 per cent grew beans and 30.5 per cent grew cow peas, which indicates that the majority of households in county were highly dependent on maize farming.

It is because of this the county government has launched plants to help farmers in the area diversify their farming activities and further help them with a ready market for their produce given only about 12.5 per cent of the households are said to have contractual arrangements for marketing their agricultural produce as per the survey.

In the partnership EU has given Sh110m, while Taita Taveta County Governor Granton Samboja’s administration is contributing the remaining Sh6.5m. The plant will also include a cold storage warehouse for ripening bananas.

About 55 per cent of the activities at the factory will involve ripening, while 45 per cent will be processing flour, chips and jam.

The factory is projected to boost banana farming in Taveta and already farmers in the area produce an estimated 35 to 60 tonnes an acre annually.

RELATED CONTENT: Group earns six times from banana value addition

A report by the county says there are 5,139.79 acres under banana plantation in Taveta, but farmers complain of low earnings as the produce trades at Sh5 per kilo during off-peak season.

In what may look a longer wait for farmers to start benefiting the new market for their produce, the plant will be completed by 2023 and will process the produce to meet international standards.

However, the construction of the multi-million-shilling value-addition plant will commence in April at the new market in Taveta

“The industry targets to process at least four tonnes of bananas daily, we are already sourcing for a ready market for the finished products,” said Majala Mlagui, Deputy Governor.

Upon completion, the factory is expected to be churning out cakes, juice, jam, crisps, canned banana, among other products giving farmers ready market.

June Ndela, a Wundanyi small-scale farmer, said the factory will turn the food crop into a cash generator. She said big banana bunches are sold between Sh600 and Sh800 when actually they should be fetching more than Sh1,000 or even double.

In giving the farmers a strong bargaining power, the county will support them to come up with a banana co-operative.

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: 18 March 2019; Hits: 6489

Nigerian firm launches smart technology to help smallholders access vital information on farming

zenvusNigerian smart technology on farming

Zenvus, a Nigerian precision farming company launched an advanced sensory technology to enable smallholder farmers in the country access soil data in real-time to better manage their crop growth and access financing relieving them from trial and error cases which could lead to serious losses.

“This technology uses electronic sensors with in-built GPS, which are placed in the soil to measure pH, nutrient content, moisture level and temperature hence helping to take the guesswork out of farming,” said Professor Ndubuisi Ekekwe, founder of Zenvus.

It therefore, offers tailored advice to farmers on what, when and how to plant using the data collected from different farms, aggregated and analysed according to location by the help of a ‘SmartFarm’ web and mobile app.

“Using this data, farmers are able, for example, to apply the correct fertiliser and optimally irrigate their farms, leading to enhanced farm operations, reduced input waste, and improved productivity,” said Ekekwe

“This we believe, will have a tangible effect on poverty not only in Nigeria but also in Africa because most households and families are going to see higher incomes.”

Using Zenvus Yield, a hyper-spectral imaging camera that monitors farm vegetation to detect potential problems, including crop disease, pests, and drought smallholders can take photos of their crops and send them through the SmartFarm app to receive advice.

Financial service providers can also access the farm data collected, if previously agreed with the farmers to help with decisions regarding the provision of insurance, loans and or investment.

Zenvus ZInsure enables farmers to apply for insurance by uploading data about their farm, which is also independently verified by the company.

“Not only do insurers benefit from access to standardised, verifiable information, but farmers are also able to access customised insurance, which helps reduce premiums,” said Ekekwe.

Since its launched, Zenvus services corporates, and have supplied to 500,000 farming entities and it is currently in a partnership with the government of Cross River State in Nigeria, as well as Abia State.

For more watch >https://youtu.be/aliB2Kzfspw

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