Smart farms

: 11 October 2022; Hits: 1544

Nakuru flower farm turns tonnes of waste into biogas with innovative tech

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By George Munene

Nakuru’s Oserian Flower Farm is working with QUBE Renewables Ltd. a British manufacturer of small-scale anaerobic digesters, that use bacteria to break down organic matter to generate biogas with zero greenhouse gas emissions that can be used for cooking and generating electricity.

Oserian, one of the largest Kenyan producers and exporters of flowers, discards up to 1,825 tonnes of waste each year which is either dumped in landfills or composted.

The newly installed system at the farm is made up of 10 containers with each acting as an individual digester, 10 batch reactors, a control room, a laboratory, and a workshop. Each reactor can accommodate up to three tonnes of flower waste.

The biogas from the containers is converted into electricity and used to power the farm's packhouses. The other gas is compressed into cylinders and used in Oserian kitchens to prepare meals for workers. Traditionally the kitchens relied on firewood.

"The flower waste at Oserian is often turned into compost. All the greenhouse gases that are produced during the process are released into the atmosphere and that is what anaerobic digestion tries to tackle. The innovation is thought of as a huge factory-scale project but we try to package it down into something small and neat so that it fits into a shipping container and can be put down anywhere in the world," said Jo Clayton the Co-founder and Director of QUBE renewables.

The innovation comes at a time when the Kenyan flower industry is grappling with exorbitant energy prices that account for up to 40 percent of all production costs. Farms rely on energy to power greenhouses and operate cold rooms among other needs. The cost of electricity has risen 15.7 per cent and the fuel bill by 15 per cent in the past month following the removal of government fuel subsidies. This, coupled with incessant power blackouts has led to huge losses for the farms informing their quest for cheaper and reliable alternatives.

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As Beatrice Wachira, the site manager notes: "We are not only providing biogas for cooking purposes. Our main aim is to provide clean energy that can power entire operations at Oserian."

The new biogas technology is timely with the potential for scaling coming at a time when up to 90 percent of the Kenyan rural population continue to rely on wood fuel and kerosene to meet their energy needs exposing them and the environment to harmful effects.

At the same time, agricultural waste remains one of the most abundant biomass resources in the country. It is discarded by burning or being left to rot further harming the environment. And while biogas energy has previously been promoted and embraced, the adoption remains low due to the high cost of installing the production systems.

As the country seeks to address energy poverty and move to a just transition, low-cost clean technologies that tap into local solutions while addressing the waste menace could be the new energy game changer across households and industries.

"Dry digestion in sub-Saharan Africa has a huge potential to utilize agricultural wastes that are otherwise left to rot, which is a tremendous waste of a potential source of energy, given it can provide clean affordable biogas for cooking and local power generation," said Mark Clayton, the technical director at QUBE.

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: 11 October 2022; Hits: 3210

Busia fish farm uses flies to make 30% cheaper & healthier feed

By George Munene

Busia Hydro Victory Fish Farm is pioneering the making of insect-based feed by incorporating black soldier flies (BSF) into fish feeds. This offers farmers a better-rounded fish meal that is up to 30 per cent cheaper than traditional feeds.

While most fish feeds in the market retail for Sh150 per kilogram, the Port Victoria located farm's feed costs Sh100 a kilo with an average protein content of 40 per cent.

In 2020, Fredrick Juma, the farm’s founder was at a crossroads most Kenyan farmers have become intimately familiar with: figure out how he could reduce his feed cost or exit fish farming.

“My cost of feeds was pushing 90 per cent of the overall cost of production which meant profits were almost negligible. I embarked on research on alternatives to the traditional feeds whose cost was constantly rising,” Fredrick elucidated.

That’s when he stumbled on one of the most efficient and prolific recyclers of organic waste into high-quality protein--the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens.

According to ICIPE senior scientist Dr. Chrysantus Mbi Tanga, the flies fed on waste and are harvestable after 14 days can offer a cheaper and even better source of animal protein.

Research has shown ground BSF larvae contain 45 per cent protein and 37 per cent fat.

“We hatch the eggs and give them to farmers who raise them up to their larvae stage when we buy them back. We are currently producing 150 to 200 kilograms of larvae monthly,” he informed.

According to Juma, they have observed improved mortality in their fingerlings upon switching to the BSF-infused diet.

Given the project's early success, the farm’s major hindrance to scaling up its operations has been accessing organic waste material.

To this end, they have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Busia County government to sort and harvest waste from the town’s 10-acre dump site.

As well as providing jobs to garbage handlers, this will prove handy as a 2021 report named the county among five others grappling with management of 5,990 tonnes of waste.

The company is in discussion with large fish farms in Kisumu, Siaya, and Homabay to offtake offals from gutted fish that are often dumped and pollute the environment.

By 2050, global food demand is expected to increase by 70 per cent in order to feed 9.7 billion people; this will necessitate coming up with innovative and less environmentally stressful sources of both feed and food.

“As communities across the globe become more health conscious we are seeing increased demand for white meat at a time when capture fisheries have been replaced by aquaculture as the main fish source. The current cost of feeds however makes it untenable for most small-scale growers,’ Juma said.

The world is also increasingly aware of the threat of industrial-scale trawler fishing and large-scale soya farming to meet fish feed demand.

One decimates fish populations by capturing immature fish and grounding them to make fish meals while the latter clears out forested areas for commercial farming.Related News: Growing insect protein demand by feed makers provides ready market for farmers

“Insects are a perfect source of protein as they produce negligible greenhouse gas emissions and little water, land or heat is utilised in their production. They also do not compete with human beings for similar sources of nutrition,” explained Juma.

Hydro Victory Fish Farm charges individuals Sh3,000 and institutions Sh10,000 for training on BSF farming.

BSF larvae alone costs Sh300 a kilogram when dry or Sh200 wet.

Fred Juma, Hydro Victory Fish Farm: 254720349175

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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: 06 October 2022; Hits: 1926

60% of farmers predict increased harvest owing to low-cost fertiliser--CBK Report

5367353434 86c8172dae b By George Munene

According to an agriculture sector survey conducted by the Central Bank of Kenya, 60 per cent of farmers expect the volume of key food items to increase or remain the same during the next harvest following the introduction of government subsidised low-cost fertiliser in the market and favorable weather conditions.

Over 60 percent of farmers also expect to increase the acreage dedicated to the production of kale, spinach, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, carrots, and beans this farming season owing to improved weather conditions, reduced input prices, and expected rains.

The area dedicated to the production of cabbages and maize is anticipated to increase or remain the same.

Majority of potato, kale, cabbage, beans, and wheat farmers expect agricultural output to either increase or remain the same on account of improved weather conditions and increased acreage per food crop.

Half of the sampled respondents anticipate market supply for October 2022 of tomatoes, onions, and carrots remaining stagnant while the other half predict prices will decrease.

However, the output for spinach, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and maize was expected to either decrease or remain the same in the next harvest.

The price of potatoes (50kg bag) is predicted to increase by 50 per cent of farmers, with the other 50 per cent of the view that it will remain the same.

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