Smart farms

: 10 September 2021; Hits: 7657

Extension network helping farmers farm & market their crop

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By George Munene

The Farmer Service Center is made up of a network of over 300 agricultural extension workers in 12 counties that help farmers with the entire farm to market value chain.

Started in January 2020, through its extensive network FSC helps farmers source ready markets for their crops before they even begin work on their farms. This is extended to the marketing of their crops as well as helping farmers gain basic financial literacy. At the farm level, farmers are trained on proper agronomy and correct post-harvest handling practices.

They also aggregate demand for products and services from disparate smallholder farmers—leveraging on the economies of purchasing in bulk to coordinate with agricultural service providers and have inputs delivered at the local level and at subsidised costs. These products and services include farm inputs such as fertilisers, pesticides, tractor tilling services, etc.

“It is comparatively cheaper to order for 100 bags of fertiliser than it is for two, similarly it is far more expensive to order tractor services to plough an acre as opposed to having 100 acres of farmland tilled,” explains Geoffrey Wanjala, Busia’s FSC Senior Agribusiness Cordinator.

Farmers are able to source for most of their inputs from the comfort of their homes reducing the usual overheads they would incur in transport costs.

The satellite FSCs also in turn help buyers mobilise agricultural commodities in bulk and from one central point reducing their logistics costs.

“Our farmer service center persons work from their own homes, others have physical centers and mini agrovets at the grassroot level; helping bridge the market access gap for agro-input manufacturers who mostly just have sales representative interacting with local farmers,” Wanjala elucidates.

To keep the model running and have it be impactful, Geoffrey contends that FSC officials need mentoring to shift from previously being farming group leaders to become entrepreneurs; some have opened agrovets within their localities as well as getting a cut from suppliers from the inputs deliverd to farmers. They also get a token of appreciation from buyers whom they help source for produce. Through the TOT, training of trainers, partnership model with companies within the agricultural space FSCs get assistance in building their capacity to be more effective with their help to farmers.

Depending on their regions, Farmer Service Centre personnel are partly chosen for their specialisation in the agricultural value chain of the various crops.

The Farmer Service Network can also be accessed online through Facebook where farmers can acquire agribusiness solution tips, have answers to any agricultural questions and referred to the FSC officers available in their regions.

Farmer Service Centre

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: 10 September 2021; Hits: 6347

Milk booster increases output by 7 litres

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By George Munene

Working with farmers, Yakub Bachu—a livestock production and animal husbandry consultant—has shown the use of milk boosters increases milk output by three to four litres in standard Friesian and Ayrshire cattle that weigh about 500kg and produce 15-20 litres of milk daily. Under good management and refined feeding methods that ensure the cow has its base requirements in energy and protein met, he says, this increase could reach six to seven litres of added production.

Milk boosters can be pellet or flour-based, and usually contain highly absorbable rumen bypass protein, rumen bypass lipids and fats. They are also compacted with high-energy products, enzymes, yeast, micro and macronutrients, as well as calcium and mineral salts.

Milk boosters increase gut microbial growth and activity so as to reduce wastage and convert more feed into milk. There are various varieties of milk boosters available to farmers in the Kenyan market, but most are not tailored to the particular geography and feeding programs of specific farmers.

Bachu, formerly a Livestock Research assistant at One Acre Fund, has been involved in the agribusiness value chain as a farmer, within the corporate space and as a freelance consultant for 8 years now. This has made him acutely aware of the challenges farmers face in transmuting the promised high yields on the back of packaging bags to actual production on their farms.

The milk booster makes more metabolizable protein available to help a cow meet the amino acid requirements for maximum milk production and feed efficiency. It is mixed in with dairy meal or sprinkled into a Total Mixed Ration (TMR). For every cow he says, 200-100 grams is given daily depending on the cow’s production level, weight and post-calving stage. It not only improves milk production but also staves off a significant drop in milk output after production plateaus and starts to drop once the cow reaches its peak; usually after 80-100 days. At early lactation when milk production is at its peak a farmer can give 200-150 grams daily, falling to 140-100 grams at mid-lactation and to just 120-100 grams at late lactation.

The milk booster is dual purpose; besides added milk production, it improves the cow’s health and provide macronutrients such as calcium critical during pregnancy. Bachu recommends that farmers give 80-60 grams of the booster one month to calving and gradually increase intake by at least 10 grams to reach 100 grams a couple of days to the calving date.

“Essentially, I am targeting to get the cow rumen to work efficiently in converting feed into milk and at the same time provide the animal with balanced nutrients for support of tissues and stimulation of udder alveoli to increase in milk production.” Bachu says. “To realise maximum benefits, we work with farmers to implement modernised feeding methods; you cannot just feed freshly cut grass from the shamba directly to the animal, it will need to be weathered and/or fermented. We also take into account the particular geographical location and tweak the milk booster formulation. Areas such as Elbagon, Njoro and Kajiado have soils with high salinity—this necessitates the amount of trace salt be lesser compared to that meant for other regions.” He also conducts manure evaluation to determine the extent of digestion and fermentation of consumed feeds.

Withering, chopping and fermenting feeds all helps to improve intestinal digestibility and reduce the amount of energy a cow expends in chewing cud and digestion.

The benefits of the milk booster he says will be quite evident early on in medium to low yielders; in about five days if your cow’s hairs had a brown hue caused by mineral deficiency they will start to turn a healthier black, with time the milk output will increase and so will its density. In high yielders, these changes will take a while longer to manifest as the minerals are slower to be absorbed into their bodies.

In time, Bachu says, the amount of dairy meal given to the cow can be halved and milk production will remain relatively similar.

He is working with farmers in Githurai, Bungoma and Bomet and has partnerships with livestock extensionists in Eldoret, Nakuru and Nyeri. He sells a kilogram of the milk booster for Sh200-250 depending on the distance to farmers.

Yakub Bachu: 0716799341

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Wednesday, 15 September 2021 [quote=Richard]Where is it available in kiambu. 0721666020[/quote] Hi Richard, ...

Monday, 13 September 2021 Where is it available in kiambu. 0721666020

: 10 September 2021; Hits: 5822

Organisation equipping small-scale arid farmers with skills & tools to store fodder

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By George P. Munene

Founded in 2019, the One Acre Nyasi Campaign aims to sensitize livestock keepers, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, on the importance of pasture production as well as offering them skills and tools, previously unavailable to small-scale farmers, that help them harvest, bale and store fodder to serve as feed in times of drought as well as offering them a supplementary income.

The program that has onboarded over 800 farmers thus far offers consultancy services (on the variety of grasses suited to various regions, the best agronomic and post-harvest practices) usually over Whatsapp. This Andrew says owes to the fact that most operate one- or two-acre parcels of land making it economically infeasible to reach every one of them.

Consultancy services are charged at Sh2,000 but offered for free to farmers who purchase propagation material (seeds or planting material) as well as variously fabricated fodder harvesting tools, ie, hay balers and mowers.

“Our unique equipment is purpose-made to cater to farmers with less than five acres of land. These are a mower fitted with a one-meter blade imported from South Africa and a wheelbarrow style-driven hay baler,” says Andrew Koriata, the program’s lead in explaining its genesis. These machines cost Sh 4500 and Sh9000 respectively and are available at Kenya Farmers Association outlets.

“The devastation wrought by severe droughts in 2008 and 2011 in scores of livestock deaths made clear the inadequacies in fodder management knowledge for smallholder livestock keepers. This presented a clearly underserved agricultural segment,” Andrew says.

The One Acre Nyasi Campaign has majored in the production of two major grasses; brachiaria and Rhodes. This is because they are both high in crude protein, highly palatable, have vigorous regrowth and most important unlike other fodders such as Napier, can be made into bales.

Rhodes grass seeds cost Sh500 per kilogram with six kilograms required to sow an acre. Brachiaria is grown in splits which cost Sh6 for every split and three thousand splits are enough to cater to an acre. This too presents another earning opportunity to farmers who are often called upon to service farmers who are near them with these propagation materials.

“For farmers we have worked with we have seen improved outcomes in their preparedness to weather harsh climatic times by having enough pasture to tide them over until the rains are available as well as having surplus pasture that we help them source for buyers for through our extensive network of farmers,” Koriata says.

Consultancy is a crucial first step in fodder propagation; while brachiaria grass has had a transformative impact in livestock keeping, most farmers for example remain unaware of the fact that different varieties of the grass are suited to different ecological localities: Mulato II is less drought-tolerant while other such as Toledo, Basilisk & MG 5 are hardier and still thrive in arid regions. “Of a picture of lush green foliage off the internet you will often find a farmer having grown Mulato brachiaria in a hot dry area and wondering why it performs poorly,” he illuminates, “these are some of the pitfalls we help farmers avoid.”

One Acre Nyasi Campaign:http://www.oneacre.qiksearch.africa/ (0720507555)

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