Smart farms

: 08 July 2019; Hits: 10224

KCB targets 1000 poultry farmers in Makueni County with training and financial support

At least 1, 000 smallholder poultry farmers from Kibwezi Makueni County are set to secure training and financial support from a Sh300m kitty courtesy of the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) to bolster the rearing of birds.

The lender says the Sh300m will be used to train and offer financial support which is reported to be the main challenge smallholder farmers across the country are currently facing.

Farmers can apply by dialing *225# then select open MobiGrow and accept terms and conditions, enter their identification number and personal information number of their choice. Deposit a minimum of Sh10 is required into their account to activate and receive their MobiGrow account number.

According to a recent research by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), lack of initial capital investment and access to institutional support has been ranked as major impediments hampering poultry farming in Kenya.

“Less than half of the farmers’ access institutional support services such as extension, training, credit and veterinary services,” said the report.

Through a mobile-based platform dubbed ‘KCBMobiGrow’, the lender will provide smallholder poultry farmers from Kibwezi with financial and non- financial support services.

Under the project christened, ‘From Chick to Market’, poultry farmers will access various tailor-made MobiGrow services including free training, market and price among others.

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chicks mathuli

According to KCB head of MobiGrow, Dickson Naftali, the farmers will get access to cheaper credit facilities, capital, vaccinated insured chicks, chicken feed and vaccines.

“We are focused to fast-track access to financial services which is in line with our agenda to simplify the lives of our customers to enable their progress,” said Naftali.

Makueni Deputy Governor Adelina Mwau lauded the move urging other big players in the banking sector to invest intensively in agriculture as a way of creating employment and combating food insecurity not only within the region but across the country.

KCB Group has committed Sh50bn for the next five years to be extended to smallholder farmers. This will see more start-up enterprises in the sector access credit facilities at concessionary rates.

Since its inauguration in 2018, over 400,000 digital famers have been registered transacting a whopping Sh2.4b.

FAO Animal Production and Health report estimates that keeping poultry makes a substantial contribution to household food security throughout the developing world. It helps diversify incomes and provides quality food, energy, fertilizer and a renewable asset in over 80 percent of rural households.

“FAO recognizes the important contribution that poultry can make to poverty alleviation and has programmes that focus on small-scale, low-input, family based poultry production. These programmes target the more vulnerable households especially those affected by natural disasters, HIV Aids and conflict,”

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: 05 July 2019; Hits: 12722

Western Kenya dairy farmers bank on brewery waste to save Sh50, 000 animal feed costs a month

Dairy farmers from Western Kenya region are saving up to Sh50, 000 cost of dairy feed per month by feeding their animals on Wet Brewer’s Grain (WBG) which has seen the producers spend Sh20 against Sh350 per animal per day when using commercial feeds.

Julias Onyancha, a dairy farmer based in Kisii County says a kilo of WBG commonly called ‘machicha’ retails at about five shillings while commercially made animal feeds retail as high as Sh70 per kilo which is a huge difference.

Onyancha who has five animals, say each animal consumes four kilos of ‘machicha’ per day as compared to five kilos per day per animal when feeding them on commercial feeds.

According to him, he would spend Sh1, 750 per day feeding all the animals but with WBG, he is only spending Sh100 per day for all animals saving a whopping Sh1, 650 per day.

“I could spend a whooping Sh350 per cow per day but with the WBG, I only spend Sh20 per animal per day,” he said.

“This has helped me save up to Sh1, 650 per day amounting to averagely Sh50, 000 per month,”

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machicha

Dairy farmers in Kenya face major challenges including the ever skyrocketing cost of animal feed which Leads to low milk production hence little or no profits from the venture.

According to a research by Kenya Agribusiness and Agroindustry Alliance (KAAA), the major challenge facing dairy farmers in Kenya is expensive feeds and supplements- due to the high cost of producing commercial feeds. This makes it quite expensive for any dairy farmer to largely depend on the same. Regular fresh fodder is also an issue depending on which parts of the country farmers are based.

WBG have high protein content rated at 27 per cent, a 20 per cent much higher than other commercial feeds which only have seven per cent protein content.

Onyanja says the farmers’ source for the WBG from the Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) at cheaper price as converting the wastes into feeds also help the company in decomposing its wastes.

According to a research by Kerela Veterinary and Animal Science University, Wet WBG contains 74 per cent of moisture and 27 per cent protein content which increase milk production by up to 20 per cent.

“The experimental group results revealed that there was highly significant increase on milk yield per day when WBG was included in the lactating cows ration at 20 per cent DM replacing cattle feed dry matter quantity proportionately compared to other rations,” said the research.

According to the Kenya Dairy Board, Kenya produces estimated 5.2bn liters of milk annually against a demand of 5.3bn liters.

Dairy farming is the single largest sub sector of agriculture in Kenya. Dairy cattle population is estimated at 4.3m kept under extensive, semi- intensive and intensive systems of production.

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: 03 July 2019; Hits: 10096

Youth in Matungu, Kakamega County earns Sh150,000 a season from arrowroot farming

arrowroots Part of Washington Lwano's arrowroot farm at Matungu in Kakamega County. He harvests 20-24 bags weighing 90kg per season from the farm. Photo courtesy.

Matungu village in Kakamega County has been in the recent past hit headlines with stories about a gang which has been terrorising the area killing and maiming residents and among the suspects are young energetic people whose strengths can be converted into profitable ventures such as food production.

However, for Washington Lwano 25, who hails from the same village, growing arrowroots has been his full-time commitment earning him up to Sh150,000 a season thanks to his parents who natured him in the venture.

“I grew up seeing my parents growing arrowroots among other crops just for family consumption and the surplus could be given to relatives, neighbours and friends with no commercial idea put at it but I have since realised that the crop can earn good returns should it be grown with a view of selling it,” said the 2015 Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Banking graduate from Egerton University.

Lwano first got motivated when he planted some arrowroots within a half an acre piece of plot part of family land in November 2016. As a way of incurring nil cost of production he used some seedlings he sourced from his parents’ farm and did all the land preparation, planting and weeding alone.

After six months he would harvest all the matured tubers for the market. At the end of the season, he realised Sh45,000 profit without spending even a coin.

“I felt so much motivated as this was beyond my expectation and given that I had spent nothing to grow the tubers,” said Lwano.

In addition the area is lowland hence it supports arrowroot farming without irrigation. He also makes farmyard manure and sources more from livestock keepers enabling him to grow organic farming of arrowroots.

He has since increased the area under production from a half an acre to one and a half acres enabling him produce between 20 and 24 bags weighing 90kg every season. He sells a bag at Sh7,5000 to a broker in Kakamega Town who letter transport it to bigger markets and sell it to consumers.

“I am not best at marketing that is why I rely on middlemen to sell my produce though I feel it is my biggest challenge because a bag in bigger towns and cities in the country such as Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu fetches between Sh9,000-10,000,” said Lwano.

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