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: 29 May 2018; Hits: 6867

Report: Kenya and Uganda tops East Africa in fish production

aquaculture fish production

A report by East Africa Community and the European Union task force has indicated that Kenya and Uganda leads in fish production in the region having a yearly production of 24,000 tonnes and 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes respectively.

The report shows Tanzania fish production at 4,000 tonnes per year, three quarters of which is tilapia fish as the country is yet to commercialise the optimal level in aquaculture.

"In Tanzania aquaculture is primarily a small-scale subsistence activity with small ponds, little formal management and low productivity", said the report presented to the on-going regional workshop on fish farming. In spite of several commercial scale operations, including some cage farms on Lake Victoria in Kagera and Mara regions, the industry lags far behind the other riparian states.

"Unlike Uganda and Kenya, cage culture has not taken off at a commercial scale on the Tanzanian side of the lake", said the report.

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In Kenya, the government invested over $50.7m (Sh5.1bn) in development of aquaculture from 2009 to 2013, resulting in the construction of over 48,000 ponds.

This, the report stated, led to an increase in farmed fish production reaching an estimated 49,000 tonnes in 2013, falling to 24,000 tonnes the following year.

In Uganda, aquaculture production is promoted by the government and the country is estimated to have an estimated 25,000 ponds covering 100,000 hectares and about 3,000 cages.

Investments in commercial cage production systems are dominated by several international firms which invested in Lake Victoria with tilapia being the main catch.

The report which was discussed as the EAC and EU on Tuesday saw the launched of a five year project to increase fish stocks from the aquaculture farms, which now accounts for only eight per cent of fish consumption in the East Africa Community trading bloc.

The project will attract 10 million Euro fund from the European Development Fund by the European Union and it will commence from next year to 2024 with an intension of increasing catches from the fish farms to between 60,000 and 80,000 tonnes per year.

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"Overall demand for fish in the region is projected to rise substantially in the near future due to high growth, increasing incomes and urbanization," said Liberat Mfumukeko, the EAC secretary general.

He noted, therefore, that developing aquaculture to meet the increasing demand for fish in East Africa was crucial.

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: 29 May 2018; Hits: 32956

New tree tomato fruits earn farmers Sh189,000 per acre in eight months

Aberdare Technologies Ltd, Kisii branch is selling tree tomato seedlings that can earn Sh162,000 to Sh189,000 per acre in eight months, two times more income than maize.

The company sells grafted seedlings at Sh50 and an acre of land can accommodate 540 trees with each tree yielding 60 to 70 fruits.

With the current market price of five shillings for each tomato, a farmer investing in this type of farming can earn Sh70,000 more per acre compared to maize which earns approximately Sh90,000 per acre.

“Our company decided to open a fruit seedlings nursery in Kisii in 2015 as majority of our customers were buying the seedlings from our main branch in Thika and hence we decided to bring the services closer to them,” said Alphonse Obino, the branch manager, Aberdare Technologies.

The fruit producer has been in operation for 17 years.

Grafted Johnson Keeper apples variety available in Kenya

High-yielding grafted apples for low rainfall regions

According to Obino, the grafted tree tomato can do well in both lowland and highland areas such as Migori, Homa Bay, Rongo, Siaya, Kisii, Kericho and Bomet.

The tree tomato is eaten raw as a fruit while still fresh and is not used for cooking like the normal tomato.

tomato tree

While growing them, Obino recommends a spacing of three meters by three meters between one tree and another.

At planting, mix one debe of full of farm yard manure and 200g of diammonium phosphate (DAP) at the base of each tree.

Irrigation is necessary in areas experiencing low rainfall and five liters of water is needed per tree. Watering is done at least four times in a week.

“To control weeds, I suggest farmers apply mulch as it would more easier in preventing unwanted plant germination and is chemical free hence cheaper and safer,” said Obino.

The tree can reach 10 to 18 feet (3 to 5.5m) in height and produces 60 to 70 fruits in clusters of between three to 12 fruits.

Newly grown trees are pruned after attaining a height of three to four feet (90 to 120 cm). Yearly pruning thereafter is recommended to eliminate branches that have already born because fruits are produced on new growth.

In this, one acre of land can yield between 32,400 fruits and 37,800 fruits earning farmers Sh162000 to Sh189,000.

When ripe, the fruit is egg shaped and its skin color may be deep purple, orange, bloody red or yellow.

Besides selling tree tomato seedlings the company also sells grafted mango seedlings at Sh120, avocado seedlings at Sh120, passion fruit seedlings at Sh50, macadamia seedlings at Sh450 and grafted apple seedlings at Sh300 each.

The horticulture industry in Kenya is ranked as the fasted growing sub-sector in agriculture.

According to the 2018 economic survey released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in April, earnings from exports of fresh horticultural produce have exhibited an upward trend since 2014.

In 2017 earnings from fresh produce increased by 11 per cent to Sh115.35bn compared to the previous year.

In this, exports values of fruits and vegetables increased by 23.3 per cent and three per cent, respectively in 2017.

Fruits and vegetables earned nine billion shillings and Sh24bn, on export volumes of 56,945 tonnes and 87,240 tonnes respectively.

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: 23 May 2018; Hits: 7353

Coffee prices drop by 10 per cent affecting farmers’ income

Kenyan coffee farmers are set to earn less income following drop in prices of the crop from Sh24,500 per 50kg bag to Sh23,000 in international markets.

Kenya’s Arabica coffee prices decreased by Sh1.4bn in the seven months to April this year compared to a similar period in 2017 according to data from the Nairobi Coffee exchange.

In this, the value of the crop reduced from Sh13.1bn to Sh11.7bn in the period under review.

According to the 2018 economic survey released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in April, the decline in marketed coffee is attributed to adverse weather conditions such as cold which affected the flowering of the coffee trees as well as incidences of coffee berry disease and leaf rust in the main production areas such as Nyeri, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Embu, Nakuru, Juja and Meru among other regions.

Coffee is Kenya’s fourth leading foreign exchange in Kenya after tea, tourism and horticulture.

The crop is grown mostly under cooperatives (75.5 per cent) with smallholder farmers accounting for 24.5 per cent.

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Some companies dealing in the production and export of coffee such as Eaagads have already issued profit warnings for the year ended March 2018 due to lower earnings.

Eaagads says its profits will decrease by 25 per cent of the 18.1m recorded in 2017.

coffee farmer inspects

A coffee farmer inspects his crop in the past. Photo: Courtesy

Coffee production in the country has been declining drastically from 200,000 tonnes recorded in the 1980s to 40,000 tonnes currently as farmers abandoned it in favor of other crops such as maize, avocado and macadamia farming.

In 2017, for instance Murang’a County lost over 710 acres of coffee farms to other sectors like the construction industry and macadamia farming.

Makuyu, Kangema, Kandara and Gatanga sub-counties lead in the uprooting of the crop according to the Agriculture and Food Authority.

Coffee production in the county has reduced from 200 metric tonnes a year recorded in the 1980s to an average of 20m kilos.

It is projected that by 2022, coffee farmers will have reduced from the current 70,000 farmers to below 40,000.

The Coffee Directorate estimates that the production of the crop this year will increase by 15,000 tonnes to 55,000 tonnes due to sufficient rainfall.

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