Smart farms

: 17 February 2020; Hits: 9325

JKUAT develops snail by-products to spur Brown Snail farming in Kenya

pexels snail 2 In a product development set to further expand the growing market for Kenyan farmed snails, researchers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) have developed skincare products from snails’ slimy mucin secretion.

Dr. Paul Kinoti, who is leading the project through the university's horticulture department, said snails are known to produce a secretion known as mucin or slime which can be used in making cosmetics.

“Though the cost of producing the skin care products is capital-intensive, the production of snail mucin skincare is currently under way and will hit the market any time once we get a nod from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs),” he said.

The machine used for extracting the slime has been imported from the west at a cost of $5m (Sh500 million) making the process capital intensive, but the researchers believe the work could open the way to a new subsector.

Currently, Kenyan snail farmers are producing African Giant Snails, which do not produce much mucin, meaning JKUAT is importing the snail mucin. But there is a species of snail known as Helis Aspasia (brown snail) which produces a lot of slime, at about 10ml per snail, and the product development could make it a viable farming option in Kenya.

Until then, the university is importing the slime from the west at about 40 euros or Sh4,600 per litre of slime.

According to Ivy Rosio, a student JKUAT who is part of the snail research team at JKUAT, snails can be used to make a wide range of products including liquid soaps, face creams, fertilisers and organic feeds.

The snail shells can also be used to make ornaments or to trap heavy metals in water treatment.

“They are ground and fed to chicken and fish because of their high calcium content. They are also used in making organic fertilisers, where they are ground and fortified into compost. It works well with all crops due to its high content of nutrients,” she said.

She says the slime can then be used to make face creams that help in curbing acnes and dark spots and have anti-aging properties. The quoted price for the face creams is Sh1,000 for a 200ml bottle, while 150 ml of liquid soap retails at Sh250.

Dr. Paul Kinoti can be reached on 0721167244

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: 17 February 2020; Hits: 7231

Banker-turned-farmer creates profits through relay planting to create constant harvest

A French beans farmer in Ngoliba, Kiambu County, who lost about Sh100,000 four years ago due to the lack of a ready market as she harvested, has since adopted relay planting on now 15 acres to give her a constant harvest that is generating an income of Sh150,000 a month.

Starting off in French beans farming from her banking job, Jecinta Ngina invested Sh400,000 of her savings and loans to lease an acre of land and invest in farm inputs.

After 45 days, the 36-year-old former banker with no experience in farming harvested her first crop only to reaslise that there was no ready market, which saw her sell the entire product=uction for the best price she could get, of Sh24,000.

This saw her reconsider her market and production, and attend training organised by horticultural and chemical companies in Thika, where she networked and attracted clients.

As a result, today, she has leased 15 acres, where she grows tomatoes, French beans and baby corn.

For French beans, she has divided her farm into blocks of an acre each where she plants the crop so that at any given time she has a young French beans crop, another awaiting maturity and a mature one ready for picking. She then plants French beans for two seasons, and rotates with tomatoes or baby corn.

“I get an average of Sh150,000 from an acre of French beans a month, which is my profit,” said Ngina.

A kilo of French beans fetches between Sh50 and Sh180 depending on supply and demand. She harvests an average of 2,000kg a month, while a crate of tomatoes goes for between Sh1,000 and Sh2,000.

The French beans and baby corn are mainly for export, while she sells the tomatoes in the local market where she makes about Sh40,000 from an acre of tomatoes monthly, which goes to running the entire farm.

She sells the tomatoes to traders who come to her farm and pay in cash.

She plants baby corn on about three acres and sells it to an exporting company at Sh25 a kilo. From exports through one company, she now has tens of clients and ensures their demand before planting.

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The exporting companies give her a list of chemicals she is allowed to use and those that are prohibited. The chemicals keep changing. She is also instructed on the pre-harvest intervals after spraying.

She grades the produce at a shed in her farm, to ensure only quality ones are delivered.

“Farming needs some knowledge and passion. I do not have a background in agriculture, but I had the passion to learn and farm.

”This has helped her meet many challenges, including erratic weather. When it is dry, she uses drip irrigation and pumps water from the nearby Chania River. But “when the rains are heavy, my crop is destroyed,” she said.

Ensuring a market is also an ongoing challenge. “Sometimes clients fail to honour their promise to buy produce even after they agreed before the planting season.”

Her plan is to export her produce directly, but she is still mastering the many licences, which, she says, are rigorous and costly.

Her farming practice has seen her won an award by the Ministry of Agriculture and Elgon Kenya for being the top young farmer in Murang’a County.

She now has a full-time farm manager and also employs casual labourers from time to time to help with planting, weeding, and harvesting.

Jecinta Ngina canbe reached on :0714723004

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: 17 February 2020; Hits: 9338

Farmer nearly triples egg earnings selling for hatching instead of food

hatching Farmers selling fertilised eggs are making almost three times more income than those who are selling eggs laid by pure breeds for consumption as food.

Eggs sold as food fetch an average Sh300 per tray. But fertilised eggs for incubation sell for as much as Sh800 per tray, with dual purpose Kuroiler eggs fetching the highest prices.

According to SokoPepe, an online marketplace, a tray of eggs in Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa, Eldoret, and Malindi sells for between Sh280 and Sh350, with the prices highest in Kisumu and lowest in Malindi.

The far higher prices for fertilized eggs are being driven by the relatively limited number of farmers producing fertilised eggs for the booming chick hatching agribusiness, according to farmer Edwin Ayeicha.

“Others consider a cock as an extra cost that needs to be replaced by a hen, which lays daily. More focus has gone to eggs for food instead of eggs for hatching. That is what is causing the imbalance, and, therefore, the rise in price,” said the Nyamira County farmer.

tray eggs

From his farm in Nyakwerema Village, Ayeicha sells fertilised Kienyeji eggs at Sh15 each. This translates to Sh450 per tray. But he sells the fertilized Kuroiler eggs for Sh25 each, meaning a tray earns Sh750.

In Nakuru County and most parts of central Kenya, Kuroiler and Rhodes Island Red eggs cost Sh800 per tray. The regions’ prices are generally higher than for either region, at Sh750 for a tray of Kari eggs, Sh650 for a tray of Kenbro or Rainbow Rooster fertilised eggs, and Sh550 for pure Kienyeji.

Such prices are twice the prices achieved for layers and sometimes almost three times. Yet the investment in fertilized eggs is relatively small, with one cock enough to serve eight to 12 chickens.

In terms of popularity, the market for pure layers is rising, but the dual purpose chickens is rising even more rapidly because of the double benefits.

To increase the chances of hatching, an egg has to be fresh, and specifically less than seven days old.

RELATED CONTENT:Testing eggs for fertility boosts hatching

Eggs stored in closed buckets are likely to achieve a low hatching rate due to ‘suffocation’ in the enclosure.

Dirty eggs too, however fresh, have limited hatching ability, because of the particles blocking the entry of fresh air into the egg to feed its living cells.

Ayeicha can be reached on +254 795 181559

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