Smart farms

: 09 November 2018; Hits: 10452

Startup making pizza from mushroom looking for farmers to grow the fungus

mushroom blue products

Some of the packed Mushroom Blue startup products. The company is looking for farmers to grow more mushrooms to bridge their shortage gap. Photo courtesy.

A Kenyan startup which is branding and supplying mushroom products, including pizza is looking for mushroom out-growers to grow the fungus in a bid to meet the biting shortage in the sector.

According to the National Farmers Information Service (NAFIS), Kenya produces only 500 tonnes of mushroom per year against a consumption of 1200 tonnes hence a deficit of 700tonnes annually.

Mushroom Blue is organising training free workshops for local small scale mushroom farmers in the country, insulating them from market bullies who have the capacity to supply the rich high end market.

Large scale producers account for 95 per cent of the country’s total mushroom.

A part from offering a ready accessible market for smallholder farmers, the company is offering them the elusive production knowledge, enabling them to increase their yields and hygienically handle mushroom, hence earning more from the venture, socially and economically transforming lives of those farmers.

Founded in 2012 by three University of Nairobi graduates Ngethe Mbachia, Nyawira Gitaka and Gregory Limbe, the company started its operations by buying mushroom from farmers around Nairobi and Kiambu before they also started producing their own mushroom by using coffee husks as substrates.

Offering market and training for smallholder farmers

According to the company’s Chief Executive Officer Ngethe Mbachia, they noticed that most large scale mushroom producers do value addition to their yields, package them and have means to hygienically store mushroom products, hence appealing to high end consumers.

This, according to Mbachia lock out many smallholder farmers who are forced to sell their produce at a through away price to middlemen, incurring huge loses. He added that mushroom require high maintenance level during production an aspect that overwhelm smallholder farmers resulting into huge post-harvest losses.

Procedure for registering with Mushroom Blue

‘’We brand the produce and redistribute it to the market we have. The farmers’ network guarantees us mushrooms throughout the year as we have various farmers and even referrals from existing farmers and institutions’’, said Ngethe Mbachia, the Chief Executive Officer.

Mushroom Blue visits a farmer few weeks before harvesting to verify the quality and quantity. The farmer then fill a contractual form which details about the type of mushroom he grows, quantity, name and banking details as all payments are done through banks.

After the first delivery, the farmer is incorporated into the company’s network which guarantees him free training and future delivery. Distance farmers are allowed to send samples of their mushrooms or high resolution photos of their yields.

Increased operations to the Coast region

The company recently expanded its services to the Coast region where it is also buying mushroom from farmers, brand and distribute to local supermarkets, groceries and restaurants. The company holds prospects of covering the whole country by the end of this year before expanding to cover other parts of East Africa.

Although there is a huge market demand for mushroom in Kenya, most smallholder farmers lack means to penetrate due to perishability nature of the fungi. READ ALSO: Huge global demand for mushroom

According to the National Farmers Information System (NAFIS), Kenya produces only 500 tonnes of mushroom per year against a consumption of 1200 tonnes hence a deficit of 700tonnes annually.

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: 08 November 2018; Hits: 12405

Frustrated farmer abandons coffee, finds money in passion farming

passionfruit

Nyangaresi Nyamira turns passion fruit bushes at James Kiriago's farm at Magwagwa, Nyamira County. Kiriago is making more money from the passion fruits unlike the coffee cash crop. Photo: Laban/Farmbiz Africa.

A farmer from Nyamira County who made losses due to mismanagement and factory bean robbers in the coffee sector shunned the crop for passion fruit farming, a venture which is earning him Sh5,500 per 50kg bag of the fruit as it is increasingly becoming on demand in the juice processing industry.

James Kiriago grew one passion fruit seedling outside his home in Magwagwa for domestic consumption. In three months, it yielded more than 500 fruits, which he sold to traders collecting fruits for sale in Kisumu.

“When the traders came unexpectedly to buy from the fruits after they were shown my farm by some brokers, I had ‘too little’ to offer them as their demand was big. This is the time I realized the worth of the fruit and I decided to pursue it,” said Kiriago.

Last year, he planted more than 100 purple passion fruit seedlings, which have turned part of his a quarter acre farm into a bush.

“The harvest is gradual. But after a full flowering, which happens in about two months, I harvest two to three 50kg bags at an interval of two weeks. The Kisumu traders look for me; I never look for them. It is easy business that I do unlike coffee, which had turned unpredictable even after depositing my beans to the factory,” Kiriago said.

After selling each of the fruits at Sh4, a one 50kg bag earns him between Sh5,500 and Sh6,000. The variation is caused by size disparity.

Currently a bag of 50kg of passion farming retails at Sh3,800 in Nairobi, Mombasa and Nakuru, Sh3,100 in Kisumu, Sh2,850 in Eldoret and Sh4,560 in Malindi.

Coca-Cola is one of the international beavarge company contracting farmers to supply passion fruit. Other companies are importing concentrates from South Africa and other regions to meet their demand.

Passion fruit are highly susceptible to fusarium wilt attack.

But for Kiriago, fruit flies and leaf miners are the main challenges, but he keeps their effect low with weekly pesticide strays.

Just like other parts of Kenya where coffee is grown, robbers regularly break into factories and steal thousands of kilogrammes of the beans, leading to losses of millions of shillings.

Magwagwa coffee factory is not an exception. Although the Nyimira County farmer has a few coffee bushes, the crop is no longer his focus.

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Sunday, 09 August 2020 Waoo. It has been my longtime dream to venture in passion farming. But what are ...

: 08 November 2018; Hits: 11685

How to reduce post-harvest losses in maize by 20 to 30 per cent

Farmers can reduce post-harvest losses in maize by up to 30 per cent by properly drying their grains, maintaining the cleanliness of the stores and treating the grains after harvest.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics Economic Survey of 2018 reveals that farmers lost Sh26.9bn worth of maize produce last season to post harvest losses.

The November to December period is the peak of maize harvesting in the North Rift region that contributes more than 60 per cent of the country’s staple food, maize.

The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization reports that post-harvest storage losses of 20 to 30 per cent occur in maize six months after harvest if no intervention measures are taken in securing of the grains.

Some of the factors that contribute to these post-harvest losses are maize weevils, moths, rats and mice, moulds, fungus and large grain borers.

To reduce this, harvest the produce when the ear cob droops (hangs down). This is then followed by drying on the ground for a period of three to four days depending on the presence of sunlight.

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maize grains

Maize offloading from a train. Courtesy

Drying helps to reduce the chances of aflatoxin attack which is a fungus that crops on crops due to high moisture content above 13 per cent. Consumption of high levels of aflatoxin can be fatal, and chronic exposure has been linked to liver cancer, suppressed immune response, and child stunting.

Ensure that the store where the maize will be kept is free of old grains as they may be carrying weevils or moths and other pests.

To control weevils and moths, treat the maize grains with actellic powder at the rate of 50g per every 90kg bag. A container for measuring the amount is available on the package with the cost of the powder varying depending on the quantity. A 200g packet enough for four 90 kg bags costs Sh250 on average in agro-vet stores across Kenya. The powder is dusted on the grains and thoroughly mixed using a shovel.

Rats and mice are controlled by keeping of cats or rat guards.

After dusting, store the maize in air tight storage bags which suffocate any form of pests. These bags are available at Sh200 each in agro-vets.

The government has this year set the price of a 90kg bag of maize at Sh2,300 down from Sh3,200 last year due an expected increase in production of the produce from 35.2m bags in 2017 to 46m bags this year.

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