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: 26 November 2019; Hits: 5606

Homa Bay chilli farmer earning Sh1,000 a day in export

chilli farmer

Magdaline Ajowi a farmer in Rangwe village of Homa Bay County is making up to Sh1,000a day from chilli exports, ten times what she earned from maize thanks to a partnership with a chilli exporting company.

The farmer has traditionally grown maize which sometimes she intercropped with beans but always recorded low yields due to poor soils which made her to think for an alternative crop to grow her income.

She had become accustomed to watching helplessly her barren one eighth acre piece of land harvest after harvest. Poor soils as a result of over use of fertilizers meant that the maximum she could get from her farm was a paltry two bags.

After years of frustration a representative of Mace Foods, a company involved in horticultural exports predominantly chilli introduced them to the Bird’s Eye Chilli variety. This is the smallest type of chilli, which is about a centimetre long and red in colour when ripe. The crop has a ready market in the European Union.

After Mace Foods set shop in the area, agronomist Nickson Agao was deployed to the region to buy the produce from farmer and recruit other interested farmers to join in the production to meet the required quantity.

Agao then decided to engage the company to enable him train and convince farmers that the business was viable. Less than a year later, farmers in the region can afford a smile.

The crop only requires four months to mature from seed to fruit. It takes about a month at the nursery and once transplanted, it takes about three months to be harvested.

"We usually solicit seed from supporters of this project on behalf of farmers as part of the programme to fight poverty in this region," said Mr Agao.

Magdaline now say they can now employ young men and women to help pick the crop, whose harvest is quite involving.

"We ship the chilli to Amsterdam in before it is transported to Germany, our headquarters." Said Agao.

A kilogramme of dry chilli sells at Sh100 and if a farmer delivers 10 kilogrammes a day, she earns Sh1,000 which is paid on the spot.

The success of the crop has opened doors to more buyers increasing the farmggate price. Mr. Peter Ouma Muga, an employee of East African Growers, now buys seeds for farmers and distributes to them free of charge.

He says this is part of the social responsibility of the company, which has given him some days off duty to assist communities in doing business agriculture as opposed to subsistence.

Last year alone, Mace Foods collected 14 tonnes of chilli from the region, despite the fact that the crop was introduced late in the year. By end of March this year, farmers had delivered six tonnes which they describe as impressive.

The chilli is of high quality in the sense that its pong is high and its colour lively red, which sells fast in the EU market. No chemicals are used, and this makes Kenyan pepper stronger in the foreign market.

Magdaline and peers are now able to pay school fees for their children, build decent houses and buy themselves food.

Mr Muga said he had distributed about 500 packets of seed to farmers. He says that a packet, once planted, would yield 4,000 kilogrammes, which would translate to Sh400,000.

Photo courtesy

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: 26 November 2019; Hits: 8760

Kenyan specialty coffee farmers find market in the US

Specialty coffee producers in Kenya are set to grow their income following the launch of the beverage auction with a capacity of 38,000 tonnes in the US that will allow the direct sale of the produce further providing market for the growers who have been decrying about poor prices.

According to Samuel Kamau, executive director of the African Fine Coffee Association, Kenya farmers are switching to more lucrative crops and abandoning coffee altogether leading to the decline in production.

The auction which was launched by CS Trade, Industry and Co-operative, Peter Munya last week will sell Kenya’s top coffee grades AA, AB and PB with all the lots having attained over 84 points specialty coffee standard scores.

“The new marketing platform which gives the growers control over their produce is what has pushed us to officially launch this first-of-its-kind Zabuni Specialty Kenya Coffee Auction here at Nebraska, US,” said Munya.

In the United States, 59 per cent of coffee consumed in 2017 was specialty, compared to 40 per cent in 2010, according to the National Coffee Association.

However, current prices are making it difficult for some specialty growers to stay afloat.

“I hope that the bidding prices for the specialty coffee to be traded will motivate, give fresh hope and impetus to the Kenyan growers to increase the production of coffee,” said Munya.

Roosters who would buy coffee through Zabuni would know for certain that the farmer is fairly paid as the centre recognizes traceability, competitiveness and transparency from the beginning to the end.

“It is making sure that growers who are the people who matter most in the value chain get recognized and compensated for what they do,” said Laban Njuguna, Chief Executive of the new auction.

coffee plant

Coffee plant loaded with mature berries. Photo courtesy.

According to the CS, the first auction features export coffee from smallholders and small estate growers from Nandi and Kiambu counties who appointed Kenya Planters Cooperatives Union their agent.

In this, coffee roasters from North America would no longer have to travel to Kenya to bid for the produce as they can get it from the auction.

For long, most coffer sales are done through the Nairobi Coffee Exchange with only 12 per cent going through direct sales.

Demand for specialty coffee is growing.

Specialist coffee shops accounted for about $60 billion in global sales in 2017, compared with $200 billion in overall coffee spending, according to Euromonitor International.

The government is now set to continue giving support to the coffee auctioning initiative by the formulation of appropriate policies and legal frameworks.

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: 25 November 2019; Hits: 8164

Narok farmers cash in the soaring demand for kenbro chicken products to grow income

The increasing demand for kenbro chicks, eggs and meat is luring Narok County poultry farmers, who were into indigenous chicken farming, to ditch to the breed which they now rear and sell their products to other farmers, hotels and potential traders from Nairobi and local markets.

Kenbro, which belongs to Kenchic, producer of poultry in East and Central Africa, was developed by a French company. The eggs from this type of chicken, for example, are in high demand with one selling at Sh30 compared to Sh15 for those from indigenous breeds and Sh12 for exotic breeds.

Willis Ndungu has been rearing ‘kienyeji’ chickens for many years in his one-acre farm in Njoro Ward, Njoro Constituency in Nakuru County. This according to him was not productive in terms of egg-laying and hatching rate. However, this has changed recently when he got free trainings on Kenbro by Kenchick. He liked them because they lay more eggs and has quality meat.

“After trainings I ordered 50 Kenbro day-old chicks and started rearing them. In six months my hens were already laying eggs,” said Ndungu.

He started selling Kenbro eggs for breeding to other farmers in his area. He hatched Kenbro eggs using his indigenous hens would sell them as day-old Kenbro chicks. Today Ndungu receives different customers in his home who want either eggs, chicks or chicken for meat.

poultry chicken d

According to Kenchick, Kenbro is a free-range bird that is robust to disease and possesses a well-rounded conformation. The bird is therefore sustainable for commercial farming for chicks, meat or eggs.

Kenbro if managed as a layer, starts producing at 25 weeks and can be managed as a free-range with minimum supplementary feeding and be ready for consumption or sale after 10 to 14 weeks. This bird is ideal for live market sales, and as a replacement for indigenous chicken.

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Godfrey Ng’ang’a is a kenbro farmer in Kabete, Kiambu County. He has two incubators, which enable him to incubate and sell Kenbro eggs and day-old chicks to fellow farmers. He sells 400 day-old Kenbro chicks at a price of KSh100 each in a month.

“I sell a Kenbro cock at Sh1500 while a hen at Sh1200 and I have sold more than 10,000 day-old chicks to farmers so far,” said Ng’ang’a.

Kenchick offers sound technical assistance to kenbro chicken farmers on housing, husbandry and health management of the chicken for free every Monday from 8:00 AM to noon at their headquarters at Exsan House, Enterprise Road in Nairobi and all their other branches in Nyeri, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu and Meru.

Kenbro is a red-feathered bird ideal for free-range production. It is robust to disease and possesses a very rounded conformation, which results in a presentable well finished bird with excellent taste.

According to Kenchick Limited after brooding for the three weeks it can be managed on free-range with minimum supplementary feeding and be ready for consumption or sale after 10 to 14 weeks. This bird is ideal for live market sales, and as a replacement for indigenous chicken.

Though kenbro breed is not meant to replace the commercial broiler or layer as it will not attain the production levels of these specialized hybrids, it is more suitable for replacing the indigenous bird or for a farmer who would like to manage his or her flock with less intense inputs and have an organic product which has tastier meat.

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