Smart farms

: 12 June 2019; Hits: 8575

Intercountry benchmarking aids group of Machakos farmers up farm production and marketing

banana market Farmers consolidate their bananas for joint sales. This helps them bargain for better pay for their produce as opposed to individual marketing. Photo courtesy.

A group of farmers from Machakos County is improving on-farm production and marketing of their produce thanks to intercountry benchmarking, an idea that has seen the farmers visit three countries within the East Africa region to learn from their fellow farmers about good agronomical practices.

Machakos Farmers Ambassadors which was formed in 2014 with 200 members has grown over time to 500 members who renew their membership monthly by paying Sh600 each and the rest who enjoy the certain services of the group by virtue of being farmers or just registered and not renewing their membership.

To be a member, one must either be a small or medium scale farmer and be ready to pay Sh1,000 registration fee,” said Sospeter Kenyingi, the chairman of the group who is also a beekeeper and an avocado farmer.

The group is also open to men, women and youth who are willing to come together to help each other improve in production and bargain for a better market price for their produce.

So far the group has through the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) visited their fellow in Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania to learn from the new technologies in farming, new seeds and ways to manage and control pest and diseases.

“EAFF is a non-political, non-profit and a democratic apex organization of all Farmers of Eastern Africa. The federation has made it easy for us to meet farmers’ organizations, groups and associations in their respective countries. All we need to inform the federation prior to our visitation are our areas of interest,” Said Kenyingi.

The group has gone to Rwanda twice, Uganda twice and Tanzania once and in all these trips the farmers fund themselves by paying their transport fees while the group’s treasury caters for other expense.

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Angelina Katuku is one of the farmers who have benefited from the trips. She is a beekeeper, pawpaw fruit and poultry farmer. Before he used to produce just for family consumption and give out surplus for free to friends and relatives but she has since learned from other farmers on how to market her produce and earn more income.

“I can now produce a full pick up of pawpaw fruits which goes at Sh5,000 at farm-gate price and Sh7,000 when I sell to our local open-air markets,” said Katuku.

For Josephine Nzula who is an avocado farmer, she had never thought of the financial potential of the fruit until she came from one of their trips from Tanzania where they on how communal farming can help farmers improve on their production and sales.

“I used to sell five fruits for Sh20 while better markets offer at between Sh10 and Sh20 a fruit. I currently harvest over 500 tonnes of the fruit which I take to Machakos Town and sell to traders from Nairobi who pays Sh10-15 according to the size of a fruit,” said Nzula.

According to Muia Kusenga, a retired agronomist and a senior member of the group, he has learned that almost every country has specific uniqueness and farmers’ organization.

“We realized that in Rwanda, for example, farmers are zoned for communal farming practices and for the purposes or earning better pay for their produce. This also created competitiveness in the zones to ensure improved production,” said Kusenga.

Currently, the group has acquired a space at Kidhoyoni Market built by the World Bank and yet to be opened. In the market, they intend to build a warehouse where member farmers will store their produce and do their sales.

Group chairperson, Sospeter Kenyingi +254 727809057

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: 12 June 2019; Hits: 7957

Bungoma farmers to receive free coffee seedlings

Farmers in Bungoma County are set to receive free two million coffee seedlings in the 2019/2020 season in a bid aimed at boosting production in the region.

According to the county’s department of agriculture, Bungoma produces 14m kilogrammes of processed coffee yearly and would like to increase their production capacity by 10m kilogrammes annually.

Bungoma ranks sixth in coffee production in Kenya behind Murang’a, Nyeri, Embu, Kirinyaga and Kiambu. Farmers in the region have already received one million seedlings distributed through 40 cooperative societies. The seedlings were procured from the Coffee Research Institute.

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coffees seedlings

According to the 2019 Economic Survey Report, the area under coffee production is increasing due to new planting by farmers in areas west of the Rift Valley and improved productivity in Central and areas east of the Rift.

In this, the area under coffee production increased from 114,700 hectares in 2016/17 to 115,600 hectares in 2017/18, mainly on account of small holder co-operatives.

This led to increased coffee quantity by seven per cent from 38,700 tonnes in the 2016/17 season to 41,400 tonnes in the 2017/18 season.

Coffee production by estates however, declined by 22.5 per cent from14,200 tonnes in 2016/17 to 11,000 tonnes in 2017/18 due to uprooting of coffee bushes in peri-urban areas to make way for real estate development. The average yield of coffee from cooperatives increased by 23.6 per cent while that of estates decreased by 22.6 per cent, in the 2017/18 crop year.

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: 12 June 2019; Hits: 9885

Retrenched Kenya Red Cross Society employee becomes own boss with apple farming

peter wambugu apple farmer laikipia Peter Wambugu in his farm at Dobet in Laikipia County. The farmer grows different apple varieties which take 8-9 months to mature. Photo courtesy.

When Peter Wambugu was retrenched in 2016 by Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) he decided to go into self-employment through apple farming, a venture which is currently earning him Sh7,600 per tree much more than about Sh800 he used to pocked daily from the society.

After his graduation in 2010 from Institute of Advanced Technology (IAT) in Nairobi, Wambugu volunteered at KRCS for about four years before getting his full time employment at the society’s warehouse department at its headquarter at South C.

“I was being paid Sh300 per day at the start in 2015. As time went by, the figure increased to Sh25,000 net salary income per month,” said the 30 years old Diploma in Business Information and Technology graduate.

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However, this was short lived because by August 2016 he would be retrenched alongside other workers due to what Wambugu says were financial issues at KRCS.

“I just woke up one day to work when our human resource person informed us that we would no longer work for the society which was downsizing on the number of employees due to poor financial status,” he said.

Lucky he had saved Sh250,000 the money he got as allowances during his volunteering work and part of the salary during his service. He used Sh50,000 to build a house on an eighth plot part of a three-acre farm he was bequeathed by his father back in Dobet village, Laikipia County.

He then spent another Sh50,000 to install water for irrigation from Dobet Water Self Help Group which taps water from Aberdare Forest. The group which has 400 members charges Sh200 service fee every month from the users.

In addition, Wambugu spent another Sh50,000 to buy manure which is mostly the goats’ dropping from the surrounding farmers, Sh30,000 on labour and Sh10,000 to pay grass cutters and transporting the grass from a community forest in Laikipia.

“I used the grass for mulching because the area is always hot during dry seasons and with little water from the forest, I can manage to grow my crops as this practice (mulching) helps me save the plants from losing much water,” said Wambugu.

The lucky farmer also got his first seedlings fom his father whom he says that for the last 40 years has been an apple farmer. These seedlings include red pitch, Wambugu and semi-arid apple (Princesa apples) varieties.

He first planted 100 trees and after 8-9 months when the plants had grown to a height of 20ft, he would begin harvesting the first fruits which were ranging between 20-50 fruits per tree.

“During the first harvest the trees give few fruits because they are still young and have few branches but as they grow bigger the yields increases to between 150 and 200 fruits per tree. The trees have a longer lifespan of 80 years of production,” said Wambugu.

Currently, the farmer is enjoying the rainfall period which being witnessed in most parts of Kenya and the trees are at a vegetative stage.

He expects them to begin fruiting by September and by January he will start harvesting the fruits for a market at Karen along Ngong Road, Nairobi. The traders either come to the farm to collect the fruits or they pay via mobile money transfer for the fruits, transport and delivery.

He sells a kilo of the fruits at Sh400 whereby a kilo comprises of 8-9 fruits. Besides, he also sells different apple variety seedlings at Sh1,000 each.

Wambugu who is now his own boss is advising farmers to use goats’ manure to grow the fruits as it is safer because it does not burn the trees as compared to chicken manure.

Peter Wambugu can be reached on +254 27964458

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