Smart farms

: 09 January 2020; Hits: 9740

Homa Bay farmer increases earnings twofold with double dug irrigation system

NYAMONGO1 irrigation

Charles Oloo, a vegetable farmer in Homa Bay County earns Sh7500 a week up from Sh3000 from harvesting five bags of cabbage, a factor he attributes to the double dug drip irrigation.

“Double dug drip irrigation involves digging trenches to conserve water, adding manure, maize straws, wheat straws, finger straws and banana leaves, as vegetables require a lot of manure for enhanced production. This method increases soil drainage and aeration and helps hold water more hence helping him harvest vegetables all year round,” said Charles.

“I abandoned normal vegetable growing on flat land when I realized incurred losses due to inadequate rains as my crops dried earning me zero shillings after heavy investment.”

Charles embraced the double dug drip irrigation in 2016 for his quarter acre farm. Initially he used to harvest two bags per week but since he adopted the method he now harvests five bags per week.

In September the same year, he bought two sachets of seedlings from an agro vet in Homa Bay Town at a cost of Sh120 each. He first put the seeds on the nursery bed before transplanting them. On the farm, he dug trenches two feet deep and two feet wide then removed top soil one foot and put it aside, he then dug the remaining one feet subsoil and placed it aside.

He used maize stalks, wimbi straws, banana leaves and dry grass from his farm in the drench to one foot high. He then added tythonia plant leaves and compacted properly. He mixed the top soil mixed with 10 bags of well decomposed animal manure until it reached the brim. On the raised bed he made well calculated drills which he transplanted his spinach and kales.

Charles was also fortunate to receive a 2000 litre water tanks in March this year from the World Vision. With the help of his children, he dug a dam liner with a capacity of 70,000 liters to harvest run off water from rains for use on the farm and storing on the tank for use during the dry season.

“The challenge I am facing at the moment is that I have not purchased a pump to propel water to the tank so I have to manually add water to the tank before I start irrigation,” said Thomas.

The farmer sells his produce at Kadongo, Sondu market and Misambi secondary school. Each bag of vegetables earns him Sh1500 on a good season. The business has enabled Thomas educate his four children comfortably without no worries about their future.

He can be reached on +254 705 646 737

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: 06 January 2020; Hits: 10052

JKUAT researchers discover edible grasshopper that can help farmers grow income

Longhorn Grasshopper1 Researchers at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in their latest findings have discovered a new delicacy for Kenyans-Longhorn Grasshopper (Ruspolia differens) commonly known in Swahili as Senene that if commercialised by farmers can help them diverse their income sources.

This is of course after the previous breakthrough discoveries on the commercial and health benefits of consuming insects such as crickets and more recently, a specific type of snail.

The Longhorn Grasshopper was availed during the First Ruspolia International Symposium staged at the university last year December where the researchers acknowledged that the grasshopper which is highly underutilized especially among Kenyans is of high commercial value, and Uganda and Tanzania are already reaping huge rewards from the delicacy.

“In Tanzania for instance, Senene is a popular delicacy especially during the swarming season when they are plenty. About half a cup of the Senene would sell for approximately Sh600 when they are out of season and you would buy the same quantity for Sh300 during the swarming season,” said Mercy Mmari, a food nutritionist from Tanzania.

With the current projections indicating the world population will surge to 9.2 billion by 2050 further increasing the already overburdened protein demand, the researchers indicated that Senene will ease the strain of the common protein sources with a variety of nutritional composition.

They established protein content of 37.1 per cent and 35.3 per cent, fat content of 48.2 per cent and 46.2 per cent, ash content of 2.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent, a fibre content of 3.9 per cent and 4.9 per cent for the green and brown grasshoppers, respectively. Among the macro minerals, potassium (K) was the most abundant with a value of 370.6 mg/100g and 259.7.

In addition to their rich nutritional value, the researchers stated that research is currently underway to ascertain the medicinal and aphrodisiac properties associated with the Longhorn grasshopper following a high recommendation from the mass consumers in Uganda and Tanzania.

The Principal, College of Pure and Applied Sciences (COPAS), Prof. David Mulati, who officially opened the ceremony on behalf of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research, Production and Extension, Prof. Mary Abukutsa, expressed his delight at hosting the symposium in JKUAT saying the move confirmed the confidence the international researchers had in the university’s effort in promoting such research.

He reaffirmed the University’s commitment to continue engaging in research on edible insects while making reference to others like crickets and black soldier flies as well as the Longhorn grasshoppers so as to ease the global variety of protein sources.

Dr. John Kinyuru who is a Food and Nutrition specialist, lecturer at JKUAT as well as the convener of the symposium, noted that despite the benefits accrued from the insect, handlers of the insects need to have insight into the animal behavior in order to rare them in mass production for either commercial or food. He said cannibalistic tendencies among the species is a common behavior and therefore handlers required training and guidance to maximize the quality and quantity of the insects during mass production.

Longhorn Grasshopper

Dr. Kinyuru makes his introductory Ruspolia differens presentation titled “the story from the beginning”

He urged people with a keen interest in raring the Longhorn grasshopper to contact him through his email address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The symposium brought together over 30 established local and international researchers in edible insects from Kenya, Belgium, Tanzania, Uganda among other.

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: 17 December 2019; Hits: 8374

Farmer finds seine nets safer than hook and bait in fish pond cropping

fish farming

Patrick Omoro, a small-scale fish farmer from Homa Bay County has adopted seine nets in fish pond cropping saying hooks killed much of his young fish during his first year in farming.

“Using hook and bait in cropping and harvesting fish reduces quality and eventual profit,” said Omoro

According to him, hooks have baits at the end entering the pond. Fish swallow the bait and the farmer pulls it out with the attacked rod.

Mature and young fish have equal chances of being caught. Omoro retuned fingerlings back into the pond.

“I never knew why after cropping some fingerlings remained floating in the fish pond. I though an infection had struck my brood. But an extension officer later told me cropping fish with hooks is disastrous,” he says.

With his about 3cm mesh net, he now crops mature fish for his Kisii town market. Fingerlings elude unhurt through the mesh and continue growing waiting for next cropping.

The net saves time spent in harvesting and cropping. Whilst a hook and bait would catch one fish at a time, seine collects and several mature fish in one stroke.

The net is also a natural selector of size. Only mature fish will be pulled out of the pond. This leaves the farmer with classification based on size and probable cost for each set.

Cropping is picking of mature fish ready for selling while harvesting is removal of all livestock from the pond for cleaning, relocation or any other reason other than selling.

Seine and scoop nets are used in harvesting. A Scoop net removes fingerlings before pond draining. Harvesting is more of a management practice.

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