Smart farms

: 20 September 2022; Hits: 1768

Easy methods of limiting beans losses after harvest

beans 1

Many smallholder farmers are grappling with post-harvest losses of their beans due to poor storage and attack by pests such as bean bruchids (grain weevils).

The bean bruchid is a major pest of stored beans. The damage caused by the pest has a negative impact on the value and marketability of the crop and can even change some quality characteristics of the crop, including the taste.

The holes made by the larvae often make the crop unmarketable. Losses of up to 40% of the harvested crop have been reported in some places like Machakos County.

Bruchids feed within the bean, leaving beans with many holes and low weight.

According to Kenya Agricultural Research Organization, Bruchids can be controlled by:

Mixing 2 match boxes full of Actellic Super with a 90 kg bag of bean grain. Actellic super can be obtained at certified Agro-vets in various towns and shopping centers in Kenya at between Ksh. 120 to Ksh. 1,000 depending on quantity.
Mixing the dry bean grain with wood ash at 5 kg of ash per 90 kg bag of beans.
Mixing a teaspoon of corn oil like Elianto per 1 kg kimbo tin of grain.
Sunning and sieving:

If you have 1 or 2 bags of beans and you live in a sunny area, sunning and sieving kills the eggs and larvae and makes the adults fly away.To use this method do the following:

Spread out the beans on a mat under the sun for about 6 hours.
After sunning the beans sieve them using an ordinary kitchen wire sieve or use a flat tin sheet with holes punched in it. This cuts down on costs.
During the first 3 months after harvest, sieve the beans once every 2 weeks. After 3 months, sieve the beans once every 3 weeks.

Farmers in Machakos found sunning and sieving to be the best control method because storage loss is reduced by killing the pests’ eggs. It allows farmers to save money as the method uses natural means. By sunning and sieving, the beans are not harmed or damaged and they will germinate well. The vigor of the small bean plant is also not affected. The beans thus stay clean and taste nice and there is no risk of poisoning from insecticide.

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: 20 September 2022; Hits: 1767

The value of bees in raising crop yield

Farmer extracts millions from bee venom

Most small scale farmers in East Africa have a poor understanding of the economic benefits of bee pollination in crop productivity. According to Muo Kasina, a research officer at the Kenya Agricultural Research and Livestock Organization (KALRO) "bees are the main pollinators in agriculture, but continued provision of their pollination service is threatened due to worldwide declines in the populations of bees and other pollinators as well as continued influence by human activities"

A global study has reported a 40 per cent drop, in the last decade, in the population of the insects that pollinate two-thirds of the world's food production crops, raising an additional specter in achieving food security, at a time when global food prices are rising on poor yields also caused by climate change.

A study by the African Insect Science for Food and Health established that crop pollination by bees’ increases farm yields to about 70 per cent. While other pollinators tend to be selective, honey bees are found to be generally cross-cutting.

Honey bees are not the only bee species that are significant for human well-being. Pachyanthidium bees are insects just like honey bees but they do not make honey. They are native bees, important as wild plant pollinators and possibly as pollinators of crops. They live independently of others.

Pachyanthidium bees build their nests in sheltered locations in pre-existing natural cavities such as burrows, crevices and hollow twigs that can be found in less disturbed and dry habitats.

Most Pachyanthidium bees in East Africa are pollen-collecting bees. In East Africa, they mainly visit wild flowering plants as well as domesticated plant flowers. Their importance as effective pollinators in agriculture has yet to be established. However, they may be effective pollinators of wild plant species; hence the need to protect them by protecting their habitat. Just like other Megachilids, Pachyanthidium bees have not been domesticated in East Africa. However, this may be possible with supportive research.

Pachyanthidium bees are found in most Regions of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Theoretically, bee conservation and management is inexpensive and adopted activities can also improve the aesthetic value of the landscape. Such practices involve setting land aside (e.g. a 1-metre strip) in the farmland to host all year round food resources (i. e flowering plants) for the bees, as well as safer sites for nesting, mating, resting and hiding from natural enemies. During flowering, farmers should manage pesticide usage carefully to avoid poisoning flower-visiting bees. Farmers should also minimize pesticide drift from the field to adjacent areas.

Additional information obtained from KALRO website

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: 20 September 2022; Hits: 1790

Hybrid solar & drier saves farm post-harvest losses

hybrid drier photo by KEMFRI

The Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute (KEMFRI) has come up with a drier machine using wind and solar power to remove excess moisture from farm products to reduce post harvest looses.

The United Nation’s agency Food and Agricultural Organmisation says more than 40 per cent of the global farm produce goes to waste. The waste starts from the farm up to the table of the consumer.

The hybrid drier is powered by the energy harnessed from the fan-like turbine erected on a wind obstruction free area. It can also be powered by solar, which is harnessed directly from panels or indirectly heated piped water.

The heat from the piped water moves to the holding area to drive off moisture from the products. In the case of the direct power from the solar or wind, it heats up metal rods that are in the holding area to release the energy required to drive the moisture out of the products.

Technologist Raymond Rawa said farmers in the coast region are already using the machine for drying various products including fish, mangoes, all types of grains, vegetables, among others.

Harvests such as maize, beans, and wheat, are prone to aflatoxim poison if they are not dried to the recommended moisture content.

Fish, fruits and vegetables go bad in less than a week after harvesting if they are not consumed or stored in refrigerators and deep freezers.

“Solar and wind are available for more than 300 days per year in Kenya. And by any chance if there is no sun, the wind fan moves to generate the energy required to heat the metal rods of the machine for the moisture expulsion process,” Ruma said.

The turbine rotates to generate energy, which is stored in a battery before being channeled into the heating chamber.
The solar power is used in two ways, the technologist said.

The direct heat from the sun is harnessed by the panels then into a battery before being released slowly into to heat the metal rods in the drying chamber.

The second way is the sun heating solar panels and the released energy increases the temperature of the piped water in the system in a cycle to the drying chamber to drive the moisture out.

The driers are customised to meet the needs of the farmers. For the smallholders, the small drier costs between Sh150,000 and S180,000.

It dries between 20kg to 30kg in six hours; the variation in the amount depends on the type of the harvest being dried. The big or communal one costs about Sh1.8 million. This one dries about 200kg in six hours.

The wind turbine generates at least 900watts per hour and it is three phase.

Average heat output collector is 24kwhrs.

Mangos are being chopped into slices before dying and packaging for crisps, while others are ground into power for export.

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