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: 08 July 2022; Hits: 759

Kenya constructing mango fruit fly treatment facility to access EU markets

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By George Munene

In what the agriculture ministry termed a game-changer for mango farmers, Kenya is constructing of a hot water treatment facility at the Nairobi Horticulture Center. This will help the fruit's farmers combat the mango fruit fly which has stopped the country from accessing lucrative markets such as the European Union (EU).

“Mango farmers have largely been limited to the local market as a prevalence of fruit fly pests has made it difficult to penetrate the EU market. Construction of a hot water treatment facility is key in tackling this pest and adding value to our mangoes, ensuring our farmers have access to this lucrative market,” said Agriculture CS Munya at the launch on Thursday.

While the country has gained a foothold in the EU avocado market, becoming the block's fifth-largest avocado supplier, a prevalence of fruit flies has meant mango exports have primarily been limited to Arab nations.

Since 2015 Kenya has imposed a self-ban from exporting mangoes to the EU because of fears that the country’s fruit would be blacklisted for having high levels of the menacing fruit fly. This would have made it harder to resume exports.

A condition of export resumption was that the country would construct a hot water treatment plant and establish pest free zones to contain the fly.

The country has only this year shipped its first consignment of mangoes to Italy.

According to chair of the National Horticulture taskforce Clement Tulezi, Europe is on the lookout for different variety of mangoes. To compete in this lucrative market farmers will need to harvest quality pest free mangoes and grow varieties that are suited to the palette of Europe’s consumers.

“They are more than four million mango trees in Makueni, which is more than any other county in Kenya. However, our production does not reflect this due to post-harvest losses, majorly caused by fruit flies. Once this treatment facility is in operation, we will no longer lose out, esspecially on the more profitable international market,” said Phillys Nduva, Makueni Fruit Joint Cooperative chair.

Fruit fly control measures saw Kenya’s mango exports jump from 7,114,721 metric tonnes in 2020 to 10,378, 480 MT valued at Sh1.716 billion in 202.

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: 05 July 2022; Hits: 1847

Kenyan honey exporter recruiting 7,000 contracted East Africa farmers

Savannah Honey

By George Munene

Kenyan honey exporter Savannah Honey is looking to recruit 7,000 contracted honey farmers across East Africa.

Founded in 2013, the for-profit social enterprise based in Utawala markets honey for Sh500 a kilogram; bee pollen for Sh6,800 per kg; propolis, used in the management of diabetes, and sores, at Sh1,900 a kg; bee wax at Sh700 per kg; royal jelly, a supplement/ additive in skin cream harvested from the secretion of queen bee cells for Sh38,00 per kg and bee venom for 4,000 per gram.

The company which currently has 4,000 farmers in the region, contracts farmers for five years and is looking to tap not only into the burgeoning local honey market where one-kilogram costs between $4-$12 (Sh472-Sh1,416) but into the more lucrative international one-- a jar of honey in the Arab market can fetch almost double this amount.

The global honey market was valued at USD 8.58 billion in 2021. Increasing demand for nutritious food products (honey is an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, calcium, and antioxidants) coupled with growing health concerns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic during which honey gained wider acceptance as an effective medicine to treat acute cough and throat infection has seen the honey market predicted to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% from 2022 to 2030.

“Despite having ideal flora and climate for all-year bee-keeping, the practice still remains largely traditional in Kenya. This has meant the country produces a fraction of its potential, leading to an overreliance on Tanzanian imports. Savannah is looking to change this through commercialisation of the Kenyan honey sub-sector,” said the company’s CEO Kyalo Mutua, aka “the King of Bees”.

To this end, Savannah’s contracted farmers are equipped with Langstroth beehives, currently on sale for Sh5500. With a multi-layered structure and removable frames, farmers can more than double their honey yields. Farmers harvest 10-20 kilograms three to four times annually.

With Langstroth hives, you do not destroy combs or crush the queen when harvesting avoiding bees absconding from their hives. This ensures there is uninterrupted production.

The company harvests the first batch of honey for free. The farmer can then purchase a small plastic honey extractor for Sh28,000 or a metallic one for Sh35,000.

Savannah also offers training on modern beekeeping; apiary management; colony division as well as technical and marketing support.

The firm ensures that all their client’s beehives are well colonised and have a strong healthy queen. Requeening (queen replacement) and repopulation (restocking a hive with less than 60,000 bees), which cost anywhere from Sh9,000 to Sh20,000 are also offerd at no cost.

Keeping bees can run concurrently/symbiotically with other agriculture practices and requires little in input costs, labour, time as well as space. This makes it an ideal source of passive income.

“With just 10×10 feet of space, a farmer can fit up to 20 langstroth beehives which have a greater earning potential than 20 acres of maize,” illuminated the King of bees during an interview.

Contacts: +254 724052975

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www.savannahhoney.org

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: 04 July 2022; Hits: 1810

Strawberry exporter looking for outgrower farmers

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By George Munene

Jaick Agricultural Produce, an exporter of organic strawberries is looking to onboard more farmers onto its group of growers.

The firm, which currently has 70 contracted farmers and another 32 trial farmers, is looking to increase on its seven to eight tons of strawberries exported every week to the UAE and Kuwait markets.

“Organic/ minimal pesticide produced strawberries are in-demand in the international market. Using a system of integrated pest management (IPM) with chemical application as a last resort, we also reduce the production costs of our farmers,” explained Jaick CEO Benson Maina.

The company which was founded in 2019 is located at Mountain Mall along Thika Road. Its stable of farmers are spread across the country; in Eldoret, Thika, Nyeri, Machakos, Kitengela, Kisii, etc, farming on as little as one-eighth of an acre to 10 acres. It also offers overall project management services to five diaspora farmers.

Like all agriproducts, the price of strawberries fluctuates; one kilogram now costs Sh340-350, a Sh50 drop from a month ago. The strawberries are packed in punnets which are graded one through three. Grade one contains 12-14 fruits, grade two 14-20 fruits while grade three fits bean-sized strawberries.

Trial farmers are given training on strawberry farming as well as farm tours to provide them with a rounded view of what strawberry farming entails. Jaick growers also have access to on-demand agronomic help and strawberry plantlets.

“Before anything, we conduct soil tests and establish the rate of nutrient distribution; this informs an individual farmer’s feeding program. We recommend that our growers use Chandler F1 strawberry cultivars,” Benson says.

Chandlers are perrenial fruiters, vigorous, flavourful as well as glossy, large and firm. They are also resistant to common strawberry plant pathogens. However, they are susceptible to leaf spot, leaf scorch, red stele, and anthracnose.

The company sells potted seedlings for Sh70; these have transplanting viability of 95 per cent. Bare root plantlets have a 60 per cent transplanting viability and cost Sh50.

An acre of strawberries holds 30,000 seedlings spaced 30cm by 30cm apart. Each plant has a production potential of 20 grams every week and a three-year lifespan.

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Being 80 per cent water, strawberries are heavy drinkers but also require six to 10 hours of direct sunlight daily to thrive. Polythene mulch is recommended for organic growers to limit attacks by pests. To ward off birds, farmers should invest in erecting a bird cover net.

They should be grown in well-conditioned soils with well-decomposed manure.

Virgin land is ideal for organic strawberries as pathogens are at a minimum. Alternate cropping also helps arrest this. Solanaceae family crops such as tomatoes, eggplants, and potatoes of which strawberries are a member should be avoided.

The fruits are harvested when half-ripe to avoid perishing while in transit.

For Evans Njoro, a Jaick farmer at Red Hill, Limuru, despite teething difficulties, there's obvious potential in strawberry farming; ”the initial cost of seedlings and learning how to tend to the plants were a major hindrance in scaling the business. Now that I can plow in profits and have learned how to care for the strawberries, I’ll no doubt be tasting the sweet fruits of this labor.”

While the company’s major markets are Kuwait, UAE, and Comoros, it also serves domestic consumers. These include Naivas supermarkets, Highridge Wholesale Fruit Market, Farm to Feed Kenya, jam makers, and local fruit shops.

Jaick Logistics: 0723146885

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