Smart farms

: 09 October 2019; Hits: 6889

Transiting from subsistence to commercial farming scales up Njoro farmer’s income

Peter Muga Njoro chia farmer

In a move that has seen him ahead of most farmers in the area, Peter Muga, a small scale farmer owning a quarter piece of plot in Njoro-Nakuru County in 2016 changed from just farming to provide basic needs to his family to produce high valued chia seeds which now earns him Sh150,000 a season.

Like other farmers in the Rift Valley region, Muga used to intercrop maize and beans and he could spend up to Sh5,700 on-farm inputs excluding labour costs only to harvest four bags of maize of 90kg and a bag of beans of 50kg. To him, this was discouraging.

“My target was to grow enough to feed my family and use the surplus for profit making. Unfortunately, what I got we could not survive on up to the next season leave alone using some for trading,” said Muga.

However, things changed in 2016 when he visited Wambugu Farm in Nyeri during a farmers’ field day where he learn about chia production. It was a totally new crop to him though its returns as per the training were inviting and he decided to give it a try.

He, therefore, bought a kilo of chia seeds at Sh1,000 then. These, after preparing his land he planted and after four months the result turned out to be quite promising.

“The plant is grown organically and is resistant to pests and farmers do not have to use pesticides like is with other crops,” said Muga.

Since then he has never looked back. Within his piece of the plot he harvests up to 50 kilos of chia seeds per season which he sells at Sh3,000 per kilo translating to Sh150,000 per kilo. He says the demand is high always due to the seeds’ high nutrition value.

“Chia is one of the most nutritious foods you will ever come across. It is rich in proteins, Omega 3 fats and a dozen other nutrients that include calcium, manganese, and phosphorus,” said Muga.

RELATED ARTICLE: Magic chia seeds earns farmer Sh1500 per kilo

The seeds do well in managing several diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, chronic constipation, high blood pleasure, cleansing blood (anti-oxidant) and invigorating the nerves.

To speed up his sales, the farmer packages the seeds in smaller packs of 250g which he sells at Sh500 each to those who want to buy in smaller quantities.

Apart from traders who come to the farm to buy in bulk, Muga also attends farmers’ events such as field days and agricultural shows in the country to sell his produce.

He also grows herbs such as mint, hibiscus, basil and pepino melons that supplement his income as they can sell well with chia seeds.

Caption: Peter Muga displaying packed chia seeds fro sale during the just concluded Nairobi International Trade Fair. Photo: Zablon Oyugi.

Muga can be reached on +254 721 765 533.

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: 08 October 2019; Hits: 10016

Graduates helping farmers use pond water as fertiliser, cutting production costs

pond fish farmers

Former university students are helping farmers in establishing pond water recycling units which allow for utilisation of fish waste as crops feriliser as one of the ways of reducing chemical nutrient supplements.

The aim of Vintage Greens Limited, which is owned by 18 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology’s alumni, is to help agripreneours cut production costs for increased profit margins through aquaponic farming.

Integrated or aquaponic farming involves turning fish metabolic wastes into nutrients for crops. As the crops mint out the nutrients for growth, they purify the water for the fish.

Vintage Chief Executive Officer Elijah Njoroge said organic farming is one of the major solutions of beating stringent chemical residues in horticultural crops for export to markets like the European Union.

Horticultural crops entering the EU must not have chemical residue of more than 0.02 chemical parts per million. Inorganic fertilisers and other agrochemicals account for increased residues in produce.

In their set-up, the company grows strawberries together with fish. Strawberries are grown in a soilless culture such as pumice or cocopit growing which is filled in vertical or horizontal perforated tubes.

Soil is not used in the set up because it turns the water into mud.

The water is pumped out of the pond to irrigate the crops, which also extract urea and other fish metabolic wastes for growth.

“Urea is rich in nitrogen. Remnant food particles also have nitrogen as well as potassium and phosphorus. Strawberries are heavy nitrogen feeders, therefore, the urea is absorbed. In the process of passing through the soilless media, the water is aerated too before flowing back into the pond,” Njoroge said.

Accumulation of urea in the pond and decomposition of the excess feeds can poison the fish, causing death.

The solid particles can also clog the gills of the fish, hence, reducing respiration, which may lead to suffocation.

The system is self-sustaining, therefore, no need of adding chemical fertilisers to the green garden.

Depending on the size of the ponds a farmer requires, Vintage determines the population of the strawberries to be grown to sustain the agribusiness.

Strawberry fruits and fish mature in four and six months respectively.

Njoroge can be reached on +254706808633

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: 08 October 2019; Hits: 10382

Pumpkin seeds oil extraction doubles income for distressed Nyeri farmer>

William Githinji, a pumpkin farmer from Nyeri County who was faced with constant market and storage challenges has turned to extraction of oil from the crop’s seeds, a venture which is currently earning him more than double the income he earned from selling the produce when fresh.

Githinji who owns one and a half acres piece of land in Tetu Sub-county started growing pumpkins in 2016 after abandoning tree nursery business upon learning the new venture from a fellow farmer in the area.

“I borrowed pumpkin production idea from a farmer who used to produce the crop while the demand of the fruits was high as many farmers had not picked it up. However, with time, many farmers have adopted the crop and there is market competition causing price and storage challenges,” he said.

In 2017 January he produced eight tonnes and sold all at Sh160,000 after facing many problems looking for market as he had no proper store to keep the produce until prices could get better.

Githinji then thought of an alternative way to make other products from the fruit, sell and avoid much pressure coming from market competitions.

“I was forced to think out of the box after learning from some of my customers I used to sell the produce to and who were making oil and flour from it and selling at a much higher price,” he said.

Therefore, in the wake of 2018, he resorted to hiring a special machine that is used to crush dried pieces of pumpkin after the manual home-made machine proved to be inefficient, time and energy-consuming.

Before drying under shade to protect the nutrients from the effects of direct sunlight, Githinji cuts his pumpkins and remove the seeds then further reduce the flesh into smaller pieces to make it easier for the machine to crush both into powder form.

Pumpkin seed oil

From six tonnes of pumpkin, the farmer can get up to 1000 kilos of pumpkin powder while from five kilos of the fruit, he can get 250ml of pumpkin oil.

“Just in one day I can produce 10-20 bottles of 250ml and 1000 kilos of flour which I pack and sell under my brand name ‘Green Patch Farm’,” said Githinji.

He sells a 250ml bottle of the oil at Sh15,000. He also sells roasted pumpkin seeds at Sh400 per 100g.

This has become one of his income-generating business and most of the time he runs out of the raw material. In such cases, he sources from farmers at Sh500 per kilo of pumpkin seeds while the whole pumpkin he buys depending on the variety and market trend at the time.

Githinji deals in about five varieties of giant pumpkins namely; Israel giant, Egyptian giant, Equatorial giant and dollar.

“These giant pumpkin varieties are very good because they produce seeds which unlike the indigenous varieties do not have the harder outer shell making it easy to crush and extract oil. From one pumpkin of the giant varieties, I can get 0.5kg of seeds,” he said.

Photo 1 caption: William Githinji holding one of his giant pumpkins at his stand during the just concluded Nairobi International Trade Fair. Photo by Zablon Oyugi.

Photo 2 caption: Green Patch Farm extracted and packed pumpkin oil. Photo by Zablon Oyugi.

Githinji can be reached on +254 719 504 157

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Wednesday, 14 April 2021 This is very interesting. Looking forward to carrying on and also increase my pr...