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: 24 June 2019; Hits: 10517

Farmbiz Africa wins 2019 BAKE Awards’ Agriculture Blog of the Year

Farmbiz award Farmbiz Africa Best Agriculture Blog of the year award.

Farmbiz Africa, Kenya's premier farming website was on Saturday last week announced the best Agriculture Blog of the year during 2019 Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) Awards at the Winners’ Gala Event convened at Utalii Hotel, Nairobi.

Farmbiz Africa beat other four contenders on the same category to emerge top following a vigorous process that began in February with accepting of blog submissions, judging the eligibility of the blogs, online voting and finally, the announcement of the winners on 22nd June 2019.

This year BAKE Awards featured 23 categories of the competition including the new category; best podcast. Some of the categories included technology, agriculture, business, environment, sports, education, food and public health among others.

The awards have been in existence since 2012 when it was started and it has been awarding the best in Kenyan blogging every year. BAKE is an organization that promotes online content creation and free expression in Kenya.

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The 2019 competition was sponsored by the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Safaricom, Tuko.co.ke, CDI Gadgets, and Konza City.

As at 1st October 2015 Farmbiz Africa became one of the Top 30 Most Powerful Websites for Entrepreneurs and Investors in Africa alongside CNN African Start, BBC Africa Business Report, YALI Africa and McKinsey Insights & Publications among others, according to Global Traffic Rank on Alexa.

Besides being the winner of this year’s, best agricultural blog in Kenya, farmbiz.glorycarefoundation.org has received numerous other awards, including a CNN Award.

We take this opportunity to thank all our readers and supporters for walking with us in this course till this far. Let us continue with the same spirit for the betterment of our economy and society.

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: 20 June 2019; Hits: 4366

Increased demand for Kenyan flowers in the US excites producers and exporters

IFTEX flower expo Participant at the recently concluded International Floriculture Trade Expo (IFTEX) in Nairobi. Photo courtesy.

The increased demand of Kenyan flowers in the United States (US) has exited the producers and exporters of the fresh produce in Kenya who are now seeking for more cargo space Kenya Airways (KQ) to enable them to meet the demand.

Since the launch of KQ’s maiden flight to New York, the airline has been allocating five tonnes cargo space for agricultural products which include only two tonnes cargo space for flowers against the current demand of up to 10 tonnes cargo space.

“The current space allocated for flowers in KQ is not enough as compared to the increased demand in the US and I am afraid that if we do not get enough space to export the commodity we may fail to acquire more markets for our flowers in the US markets,” said Clement Tulezi, CEO of Kenya Flower Council.

The council is now appealing to Kenya Airways and its international partners to consider allocating them a fully dedicated direct cargo flight instead of a passenger flight which limits the cargo capacity.

Connecting flights require at least three loading and off-loading stages processes which end up compromising the quality, quantity and delivery time of the fresh produce, according to Susan Kuria, Marketing Director at Flawless Flowers International.

“Flowers are highly perishable goods that need to be handled well during transport and be reached to the designated markets within the shortest time possible hence direct dedicated flight would help us reach the markets while the flowers are still fresh,” said Susan.

RELATED ARTICLE: Fact sheet on growing cut flowers for export

According to her, currently, KQ is the only direct flight to the US and its cargo space is always fully booked leaving exporters who have not booked the space with an alternative of connecting flights which have high risks that affect the quality of the produce upon arrival to the designated markets.

“The US market has a lot of potentials but the market rates have become too expensive due to flight costs. For instance, due to the small cargo capacity which is currently booked up to September, there is no more space left for those interested to use the flight,” said Susan.

The council is now engaging the government to help in the matter.

As per the 2019 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Economic Survey, export earnings from cut flowers grew by 37.7 per cent from Sh82.2bn in 2017 to Sh113.2bn in 2018, to form the main driver of the 9.6 per cent increase in the performance of the horticulture sector.

Currently, Kenya exports flowers to over 60 destinations with more diverse opportunities available in the US, Japan, India, China, Canada, Australia, and Eastern Europe.

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: 19 June 2019; Hits: 4914

Village chicken auction market helps small scale farmers fetch better prices

Chicken auctioneers at Kiling'ot auction Market in Baringo County. Photo, Ebru TV.

Small scale farmers in Kiling'ot village, Baringo County who started a chicken auction market in the area in 2014 just to sell the birds among themselves at Sh200 a bird are now able to reach more buyers who offer as high as sh1,000 a chicken.

The market was started by farmers who did the potential to rear goats to enable them to participate in the bigger annual Kimalel Goat Auction event where attend the market to sell the flocks.

Kiling'ot chicken auction happens every month when buyers bid for the price of a chicken lower price until the price goes up when the highest bidder who beats the rest walks away with the chicken. The process is repeated until all the birds are sold.

Today the least cost of a chicken is Sh600 with the highest cost is Sh1,000 with most buyers coming from buyers from Ossen, Kabarnet, Kabartonjo, Marigat and Nakuru.

In a given auction event farmers can sell up to over 500 chicken.

In addition, farmers get the opportunity to meet with agricultural extension officers from the county who help them on good poultry keeping which has improved their livelihood.

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