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: 13 November 2017; Hits: 5963

Call to regain Kenya’s passion

Elijah Langat , passion fruit farmer.jpg

Elijah Langat , passion fruit farmer.

Despite Kenya’s potential to grow and export passion fruits, production of the highly profitable crop has been on the decline over the past decade with no exports going into the European Union. Kenya produced and exported the fruits in the 90s and early 2000 but since 2003, decline in production started because of pest management challenges among other reasons.

The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya Chairman Apollo Owuor told a gathering of farmers, buyers and development partners at a conference titled Making Kenya the Global Leader in Passion Fruit Production and Marketing held in Eldoret last month.

RELATED STORY: Shortage sparks passion fruit price rise

The European market has strict guidelines on pesticides residues and passion was reported to contain above allowable limits.

He added there has not been efforts to revive the industry partly because passion is listed by the Ministry of Agriculture as a minor horticultural crop therefore not in government policy for priority. The Agriculture Food Authority Horticulture Directorate head Zakayo Magara admitted passion fruit is listed under 100 other minor crops.

Following the day-long deliberations, the Council of Governors Agriculture Committee, represented by Anne Koech, County Executive Committee Member in charge of Agriculture, Kericho, made a commitment to propose and support the upgrading of the crop to a major so that funds can be allocated to development of passion in counties earmarked as suitable to grow it. She said the county governments would subsidise purchasing of seedlings to improve production and create market linkages to streamline marketing among in Western region, considered as a high potential passion fruit production zone.

According to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that funded the conference through the Kenya Agriculture Value Chains Enterprises (Kaves), Passion fruits can grow anywhere in Kenya due to availability of varieties for warmer and colder parts of the country. “We have yellow passion for the lower, warmer regions and the more common purple variety for the higher cooler parts,” said Dr Steve New, Kaves Chief of Party. He added there is potential for Kenya to be a world leader in tropical juice production due to year-round availability of tropical fruits – passion, mango and pineapple, as the only country in the world that can grow the crops continuously.

Passion fruit is the most profitable in comparison with other crops, according to the Passion Fruit Value Chain Study undertaken in 2015 by Dr Hezekiah Agwara which indicates a farmer can make good income from a small parcel of land measuring 0.3- 0.6 of an acre. Dr New describes this as “poverty level minimum” that can sustain a livelihood. He added nothing goes to waste from a passion fruit plant. “Minimal wastage in passion fruit production because there is a huge domestic market. Passion is also used by processors for juice while neighbouring Uganda is a big market for Kenya passion fruits taking 50 per cent of total production. South Sudan is also buying lots of passion from Kenya.

Dr New stresses that passion fruit is best produced by smallholders due the attention it requires for maximum productivity. At spraying the plant will be at different stages of pest control making it hard for largescale management. On one vine you can have a flower, a young and mature fruit at the same time. The disease and pest control for each is different and non should affect the other, especially the ready to harvest fruit which shouldn’t have traces of chemicals. Managing this balance it not easy, he said.

According to Eric Ogumo, UK retail giant, Tescos, manager for Africa, passion fruit is the most sought after in their shelves in Europe, retailing at Ksh 2,000 a kilo. “Buyers always ask for Kenya fruits but there are none. “We are here to buy your fruits”, he told an attentive gathering. Mr Ogumo said they are buying from Southern Africa countries of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia. “There is a ready market if we can get your fruits”, he said adding that Kenya is not benefiting from newest varieties because the country is not exporting. “There are newer, better yielding, pest and diseases resistant varieties for export but they are not being grown here.” Mr Ogumo said.

The biggest challenge of meeting pesticides residue limits is caused by there being only one registered product. The Agriculture Committee of the Council of Governors has committed to bring agrochemical firms together with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Pest Control Products Board to discuss extension of labels to include passion fruits in pest control products available in the country to give farmers options.

Biological control products firms have also not conducted research on the passion due to its minor crop status.

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: 10 November 2017; Hits: 5518

Weatherman predicts good tidings for dry land livestock farmers

An August 2017 report by the Kenya Meteorological Department has indicated that in Northeastern, Northwestern and Southeastern parts of the country , areas where over four million pastoralists reside , will experience enhanced rainfall until December, a factor that will facilitate the growth of grass for their livestock.

“Foliage and pasture conditions in the pastoral areas of Northeastern, Northwestern and Southeastern Kenya are expected to improve significantly as a result of the expected good rainfall performance during the season,” reported the Kenya Metrological Department.

“The onset of the rains is expected in the second to third week of October and the cessation during the fourth week of November to first week of December.”

During the rainy season, grass grows faster due to the presence of enough water however this can also be lead to the growth of soft grass which experts warn it should not be fed to the animals when fresh.

“When the rains come, new young grass sprouts,this is very good for the animals. Animals easily pick at the soft grass and eat it up in big quantities but farmers should take care because this grass has a lot of water and little fibre, which is not very good for the animal,” said Peter Muturu, Livestock Production Officer- Nairobi County.

“Animals need fibre for proper digestion. The water fills up the stomachs and it is virtually useless.”

Muturu advises livestock keepers to harvest or cut some of the young grass and dry it under the sun,this will turn it into good feed.

The rainy season is also the season when most livestock farmers in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), grow fodder crops like Cenchrus Ciliaris (African Foxtail Grass) which is the grass of choice for ASAL areas. This grass specie is highly palatable with high leaf production.

Pasture production in most pastoral areas in Kenya is based on Cenchrus ciliaris and Erasgrostis superba grass which is loved by the Maasais according to Kerio Valley Development Authority. The two are the most popular pasture species in ASALS where livestock rearing is the mainstay economic activity.

Cenchrus Ciliaris grass for instance can produce up to 200 bales of hay from one hectare of land under good agronomic practices. Upon maturity, the grass can be used to make hay, stored and fed to livestock during the dry season when there is little growth of grass.

It can be of good use during dry spells when pasture is a major challenge to livestock farmers or pastoralists in these areas.

The first rainy season of this year the country experienced below-normal rainfall that was mainly recorded during March-April-May. Most parts of the country experienced generally sunny and dry weather conditions during June-July-August according to the weather report.

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: 08 November 2017; Hits: 11296

Potato value addition earns Nyeri farmers sh10000 daily

An association dedicated to forest conservation in Kenya is earning a minimum of Sh10, 000 daily from making potato chips.

Kathioro community forest association, which has 4,008 members main purpose is to conserve a section of Mt. Kenya forest in Nyeri County in collaboration with the ministry of Environment and Natural Resources but owing to the available land in the forest, the members led by their Chairman Moses Kithiria asked the ministry to allow them plant potatoes as they conserved the forest.

Related article: Village cooperatives redefine value addition

“When we were given the green light, each member contributed Sh200 and we planted Irish potatoes for sale on roughly 10 acres of land, that was in 2011.We harvested 49500 kgs and sold a 90 kg bag of the produce at Sh3000 to Sh3500 depending on market demand. Profits accrued from the sale were saved for future investments as agreed by members,” said Moses.

“In 2015 we decided to venture into potato value addition to enable us to make more money and improve our livelihoods. We bought several machines used to make chips at a cost of Sh3.2 million from our own savings.”

Once they harvest the potatoes from the farm,they sort them out into different grades. Grade one are those with medium size and grade two are the big ones, grade three are those with injuries which are eliminated.

After sorting, the potatoes are then washed thoroughly then put into the potato peeler removing the skin leaving the soft inner core. The potatoes are then washed again and sliced into small pieces then dried before being poured into the cooking oil where it takes an average of 10 to 15 minutes to cook.

When Farmbiz Africa visited their stand at the 2017 Nyeri National Show, the association members were busy peeling and chopping potatoes to make chips. Other members were busy serving pupils and various attendees with chips. They sold each plate of chips at sh50 attracting a large number of hungry participants.

Moses Kithiria, the chairman of Kathioro Forest Association serving chips to customers at the 2017 Nyeri National Show at Kabiruini grounds, Nyeri

On a good day especially on farmers’ field days and agricultural shows, the association makes up to sh10, 000. The profits, Moses says, have been used to improve roads in Kabiruini village, Nyeri County.

“We have managed to upgrade about 21 feeder roads which were previously impassable each time it rained in our village since 2015 The improved roads have enabled other farmers’ access markets within Nyeri County faster thereby earning more income,” said Moses

Moses can be reached on +254 720 175 604

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