Smart farms

: 11 November 2021; Hits: 5239

Government steps up pyrethrum farming revival issuing 500,000 seedling to Nakuru farmers

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By George Munene

500,000 pyrethrum seedling will be distributed to 100 farmers in Nakuru County, as part of a government initiative aimed at reviving the crop’s farming in Kenya.

In the 1990’s Kenya controlled about 90 percent of the world’s pyrethrum market, giving direct employment to over 200,000 smallholder farmers. From a high of 18,000 tons in 1992, annual national production currently stands at less than 500 tons.

Speaking during the handover of a pyrethrum drier worth 1.8 million shillings to pyrethrum farmer groups in Subukia, Nakuru, the county’s Deputy Governor Erick Korir, called for farmers to work closely with each other and pyrethrum processing firms to ensure there’s consistency in the crop’s production.

“Youth need to join pyrethrum growing groups to ensure that the crop’s production is sustained through the coming years,” added Korir.

For framers, the state of the art drier means they can harvest their pyrethrum leaves through the year regardless of season. The quality of their sold produce will also greatly improve, enabling them to fetch better prices.

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: 10 November 2021; Hits: 9485

Agriculture social coding event seeks digitised solutions in indigenous vegetable value chain

By George Munene

Agritech company AgUnity, US university Virginia Tech, and Kenya’s Egerton University will host the AgChain Hackathon from November 15-17,where students from Egerton University will offer digitised solutions to real challenges within the African indigenous vegetable value chain to foster technological innovation among youth in the agriculture sector.

The project will provide support and mentoring to students to develop programs that can be deployed on AgUnity’s SuperApp platform.

The students will compete for the opportunity to have their developed applets (small, portable program) integrated into the AgUnity suite. This will offer them cash prizes, as well as mentorship opportunities.

AgUnity is a technology provider that creates digitisation solutions that integrate remote farming communities into global supply chains. This incorporates low cost, blockchain based technology solutions to build efficient digital supply chains, from farmer to consumer.

Interested observers of the event can check out the livestream here between 8:30am and 5pm EAT. The pitching competition will be held and winners announced on November 17, from 1pm to 5pm EAT.

AgUnity, Virginia Tech, Egerton University, and the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) will host an interactive workshop with members of the agriculture sector in Kenya, entitled Demonstrating the Value-Add of Blockchain in the Kenyan Agricultural Sector. This workshop will allow participants to explore ways to use the AgUnity smartphone application to address pain points within the Kenya agriculture sector.

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: 05 November 2021; Hits: 10989

Genetic improvement creates high performing "Improved Boran"

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By George. P. Munene

Once abandoned for exotic cattle breeds, Borans --Eastern Africa's dominant cow breed--is now much sought after after continuing improvements being made to the breed spearheaded by The Kenyan Boran Cattle Breeders' Society (BCBS) which have developed the "Improved Boran" since the turn of the century.

Kept almost exclusively for beef production, improved Boran cattle utilise limited pasture; steers( castrated bulls) that are sorely grazed on natural pasture attain market weight in less than a year. They are also disease resistant; they easily withstand tick borne attacks--the most prevalent disease in East Africa's grasslands.

Heterosis, the mating of two different pure-bred lines to pass on desirable traits such as faster growth rate and a larger size, has served to deliver mature bulls that typically weigh between 500Kg to 850Kg.

Given their elite performance, Boran cattle don't come cheap. According to the head of Kakuzi's Livestock Department, Dr. Nchoki Karatina, they sell unregistered Boran bulls for Sh120,000, foundation bulls for Sh150,000 while purebred and pedigree bulls cost Sh250,000 and Sh300,000 respectively. Located at Managmate, Murang'a County, the farm keeps about 4500 heads of Boran cattle with their stud herd (breeding bulls) being registered with the Kenya Stud Book.

Kakuzi Livestock Department: 254 713 761791

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