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: 16 November 2018; Hits: 15072

Telegram group connects over 22,000 onion, tomato, watermelon, cabbage, chili and capsicum farmers to markets

In offering farmers control over the price of their produce, a Telegram group, FarmerBot, is connecting more than 22,000 agro-producers to direct buyers.

In 2017, Kenyan farmers lost 1.9m tonnes of food as they struggled to find markets according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.

FarmerBot came up with the Telegram group to help farmers seamlessly interact with buyers. Onions, tomatoes, capsicums, watermelons, cabbages, chillies are some of the main crops of the farmers in the group.

“There are more than 2,000 buyers in Nairobi, Mombasa and other major towns buying from FarmerBot group members. Apart from linking them to the buyers, the group lets the farmers independently determine the price of their produce,” said Noah Nasiali, FarmerBot group Business Development Director.

The officer said the group members create profiles of their farmers featuring the crops they are having from planting to harvesting.

The managers of the group know which crops will be ready for harvesting at a given time and the expected tonnage.

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Avocado Farmers in kenya

Hass avocado variety. Courtesy

In addition to hotels and restaurants, supermarkets are the other main buyers of the produce from farmers in the FarmerBot group.

Besides being in control of the price, the farmers enjoy all-year round market for their produce.

“Instead of producing tomatoes from one acre in one season, the farmers are helped to delay the planting using the quarter system. They can grow the first tomatoes on a quarter an acre now and do the same to another quarter after three weeks or a month until the acre is covered. The spread ensures differences in age, which will be replicated at harvesting,” he said.

Instead of having one-bulky produce per season, the farmer transcends the period to reach the market even on shortage times.

With a constant supply, the farmers create good profile for themselves with the marketers. The farmers also earn constant income from the harvest besides wining the confidence of the big buyers like supermarkets.

The Telegram group, which is supported by http://farm.ink/, offers farmers free expert production and buyer information for high yields and definite markets.

Here is the link for joining the group- https://t.me/FarmGroupBot.

Nasiali can be reached on +254722907203 or +254799087084.

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: 13 November 2018; Hits: 5392

Kenya launches framework to implement climate-smart agriculture

tr schaller web climate friendly agriculture farmers onion

The Kenya Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries & Irrigation (MoALF&I) on 31 October 2018 launched the Kenya Climate Smart Agriculture Implementation Framework 2018-2027 at Kilimo Grounds, Nairobi.

The framework sets guidelines for implementing climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approaches, strategies, practices and technologies in Kenya. The purpose is to promote climate-resilient and low-carbon growth sustainable agriculture that ensures food security and contributes to national development goals.

The framework was produced by MoALF&I in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry with support from the Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through the Integrating Agriculture in National Adaptation Plans project (NAP-Ag), the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS).

Having launched the Climate-Smart Agriculture Strategy for 2017-2026 in March 2017, the government continues to make great strides in creating an enabling framework for CSA in Kenya.

In his opening remarks, Dr. Gabriel Rugalema, FAO country representative, pointed out that the launch was timely as the country moves to implement the ‘Big Four’ Agenda—a government declaration focusing on manufacturing, universal healthcare, affordable housing, and food security. The framework will enable the government to work towards achieving its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and is also in line with global discussions on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture, which calls for implementation.

The framework focuses on four objectives:

Develop a sustainable system for achieving a coordinated, coherent and cooperative governance of climate resilience and low carbon growth in the agricultural sector;
Mainstream CSA to support the transformation of Kenya’s agricultural sector into an innovative, commercially oriented, competitive and modern industry that contributes to poverty reduction and improved food security;
Reduce vulnerability of agriculture systems by cushioning them against the impacts of climate change and reduce GHG emissions where possible; and
Strengthen communication systems on CSA extension and agro-weather issues.

A plan is nothing without implementation

While launching the framework, Andrew Tuimur, Chief Administrative Secretary of MoALF&I, encouraged stakeholders to continue working with the government to support advocacy and dissemination of the framework to the county level where implementation is set to take place, including capacity building within the counties. Moving forward, the government identified the following areas of support and collaboration:

Advocacy through the media to encourage political support and investment at national and county levels;
Translation of the framework to simpler language for dissemination at county level and among local communities; and
Multi-stakeholder collaboration to support implementation.

At the launch, CCAFS, together with the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), showcased successful CSA technologies and practices.

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: 12 November 2018; Hits: 7771

Avocado, French beans, flowers, vegetables and peanuts market ripe in China

avocado fruits tree

Kenyan farmers are set to benefit big market for their produce in China following an agricultural export deal between the two countries which will allow the farmers export avocado, French beans, flowers, vegetables and peanuts to China.

The deal comes in the backdrop of the first ever China International Import Expo (CIIE) being held in Shanghai. According to the latest United Nations estimates, the current population of China is over 1.4bn making the East Asian country a good market for the produce.

China has become Kenya’s biggest trading partner, accounting for 17 percent of Kenya’s annual trade by value or more than $4 billion.

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The deal is expected to tilt the balance of trade scale in favor of Kenya to boost income from its exports by tapping China as a key export market.

Horticulture and flower exports are a key foreign exchange earner for Kenya which raked in $1.13B in 2017.

Europe has been a key market for Kenya which is now looking to diversify.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook estimates, Kenya exported US$5.7 billion worth of products around the globe in 2017, 28.4 per cent were sold to European importers and another 23.7 per cent worth of goods to Europe with 8.9 per cent arriving in North America.

The agreement comes less than a week after China’s president Xi Jinping met with President Kenyatta.

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