Smart farms

: 27 October 2021; Hits: 7947

Kajiado farmer slashes poultry production cost through homemade hydroponic meal

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By George Munene

Through hydroponic farming, Peter Muiruri, a poultry farmer at Kitengela has been able to cut his feeding costs by over 40 per cent.

While it costs other farmers Sh700 to feed 100 chicken each consuming 140 grams in a day, Peter spends nearly half of this, Sh400 by substituting nearly 60 per cent of store-bought feeds with his own homegrown hydroponic fodder. This ensures he keeps his cost margins low and reaps handsome returns from his poultry venture.

Due to its high protein content, in the two and a half years he has employed hydroponics, Peter who supplies supermarkets with kienyeji eggs says he has seen tremendous improvement in the immunity of his flock. He points out that he rarely has any cause to use any antibiotics for his chicken. “The growth rate of my birds far surpasses what I archived while feeding them on commercial feeds. Hydroponic fodder coupled with the greens I grow to feed my birds has also ensured I produce authentically kienyeji eggs without resorting to using any additives,” he explains.

Hydroponic farming refers to the growing of plants without soil but rather the use of water-based nutrient-rich solutions fed to plants with water ensures the speed at which they germinate is increased greatly.

The main implements you will need to set up a hydroponic system of your own are trays, seeds (planting material), and water.

With the cost of feeds having gone up by nearly 38 percent over the last four months, from Sh1850 to Sh2550. This has seen many poultry farmers wave goodbye to their poultry fortunes with production cost being unmanageable for most small-scale farmers. More than ever, alternative sources of poultry feed such as hydroponics are vital to ensure chicken rearing remains profitable.

Eight to 10 kilograms of hydroponic fodder can be produced in six to seven days at a cost of just Sh12.5 a kilogram. For Muiruri, three trays; 30-24-kilogram worth of fodder, is a sufficient daily feed supplement for his 800 birds, making hydroponics a low-cost source of high-quality nutrients.

For a standard daily chicken ration intake of 140 grams, 70 per cent of this can be replaced with hydroponic fodder in kienyeji chicken and 30 per cent for broiler and layer chicken.

“Farmers should however be advised to progressively increase the amount of hydroponic fodder substituted for commercial feeds, gradually observing their bird's production levels and settle at the point where they achieve maximum production,” Peter counsels.

Hydroponic fodder should also be introduced to chicks while they are young, i.e., at two months for them to be used to these feeds and avoid shocks caused by a sudden change in diet.

The seeds can be those of barley, wheat, oat, maize, sorghum amongst other cereals. The selected seeds should not have overgrowths and be chemical-free. Wheat and barley have over 20 per cent protein content, the standard required by chicken, making them the more preferable options.

To prepare his seeds he soaks them in jik for 30 minutes to two hours. They are then washed and rinsed to remove any jik residue. Seeds are further soaked for between four to 12 hours before being drained and incubated in a bucket for two days after which their roots will have sprouted and they will be ready for planting.

Planting is done by spreading the germinated seeds on the plastic trays--this can be store-bought or homemade. A 40cm by 1M tray will normally hold about two kilograms of planting material which in a week's time will give you 8 to 10 kilograms of fodder.

Watering should then be done every four or three hours until seven/six in the evening, this will be dictated by the climate which affects the rate of evaporation. The seeds and plantlets are watered for six to seven days depending on the fodder’s eventual use. Trays must have holes to allow for the draining of excess water which if left stagnant on the trays will rot the seeds.

Fodder harvested from the third to fourth day can be used to feed month-old chicks while mature chicken should be fed on fodder that is at least six days old.

Hydroponic fodder can also be fed to pigs, cows, goats or sheep.

For more lessons from Muiruri on hydroponics and other tips and tricks on cost-effective poultry-keeping check out his Youtube channel;Farmers Point

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: 26 October 2021; Hits: 6235

200 Kenya agriculture students get 11 month Israel internship

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By George Munene

200 Kenyan agriculture students will join Israeli Arava International Center for Agricultural Training, a center established to train agriculturalists from developing countries on advanced farming methods.

The internship will encompass theoretical studies as well as practical training.

This training is part of a pledge made in 2020 by Israel to aid Kenya's agriculture sector weather the Covid-19 pandemic and help the country become food secure.

"The agri-training internship will provide knowledge that will help learners provide solutions to food security challenges upon their return to Kenya." said Deputy Ambassador of Israel Dvora Dorsman.

At the end of their internship, the students who complete the program are given a chance to pitch their business ideas with the three best students having their agribusiness ideas being financed by The Israeli Agency for International Development Cooperation.

Through the length of their stay in the Middle Eastern country the learners will also get professional guided tours to give the students a rich experience of Israel.

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: 26 October 2021; Hits: 10215

Fact sheet on controlling deadly potato cyst nematodes

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By George Munene

Using artificial and natural nematicides smallholder farmers in Kenya can control the potato cyst nematodes (PCN), a pest that causes yield losses by at least 80 per cent.

In a study of 20 potato growing counties in Kenya Potato Cyst Nematodes (PCNs) were obtained in 71.8 per cent of the counties with Nyandarua County at 47.6 per cent recording the highest PCN field-incidence.The situation is further compounded by the fact the Shangi potato variety grown by 65 per cent of farmers for its shorter dormancy and cooking time is the most susceptible to PCN.

Potatoes are the second most consumed food crop after maize in Kenya, however, production has been on the decline: on a landmass size of 133,532 hectares, the country produced 1.9 million tonnes of potatoes in 2015. Over a corresponding period in 2017 however, Kenya's potato production fell to 1.5 million tonnes off 192,341 hectares.

With Nyandarua being the country's potato basket, accounting for up to 40 per cent of the total production of potatoes, farmers in the county now produce 18 bags, from ¼ acre, down from the previous 30 bags.

PCN, first reported in Kenya in 2015, is classified by KEPHIS as a quarantine pest (a pest subject to official control and regulation due to the potential economic devastation it may present to an area) can lie dormant in soils for up to 20 years and infects 82 per cent of potatoes grown across 22 counties.

Potato plants affected by the PCN exhibit the following characteristics:

leaf discoloration/yellowing and wilting
root with cysts
uneven tuber sizes on one potato plant
reduction in the number of roots
dwarfing of potato tubers and the plant and,
reduction in the number of crops

The nematodes causing PCN are microscopic worms, measuring less than one millimeter in size, meaning they are only visible through a microscope lens. As these symptoms closely mimic water and nutrient deficiency in potatoes, farmers are often left none the wiser on what is causing a reduction in yields.

Potato cyst nematodes are spread by:

Importation of infected plants or plant materials and
locally, by the spread of cysts through soil, wind, water and vehicles

The total production of basic potato seeds in Kenya stands at 6,700 metric tonnes, short of the 30,000 metric tonnes required. According to KEPHIS, the informal sector in Kenya accounts for about 70 per cent of potato seeds propagated by farmers across the country, this makes the curbing of PCN almost impossible.

The easiest way of controlling potato cyst nematodes is the use of nematicides, which are chemical pesticides used to kill plant-parasitic nematodes. Most nematicides are however burned for being toxic to the environment.

Nematicides sold in Kenya include:

NEMATHORIN® 150EC
Adventure® 0.5% GR
Alonze® 50EC
Farmchance® 250 EC

Studies done in Kenya by scientists from The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture have found that covering potato planting seeds with banana paper laced with minimal doses of pesticides during planting deters PCN’s from reaching the potato seeds.

In studies by the University of Florida Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension department cropping in Marigold flowers into potatoes/cabbages has also been scientifically proven to reduce nematode attacks as they act as an alternative host for the nematodes, but produce natural compounds that act as nematicides. This kills the nematodes preventing them from breeding. In time, the nematode population slowly decreases.

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