Smart farms

: 23 August 2018; Hits: 14938

Elgeyo Marakwet: How a quarter of an acre compound can give enough produce for food and sale

elgeyo marakwet farmers field day

Prof Malinga (In a red trench) looking on as Deputy Governor of Elgeyo Marakwet Wisley Rotich tastes a sweet potato at Chabara Farmers Training Centre. Photo courtesy.

Elgeyo Marakwet County farmers were on Tuesday during a field day held at Chebara Farmers Training Centre trained on how to turn their compounds often left as lawns to make money and grow enough food to feed their families.

For the live fence, most families often use trees which act as wind breakers. The trees take at least 15 years to be harvested and in a space of three metres, a farmer can grow up to 70 trees on his compound. And giving it a 90 per cent growth rate, a total of 60 trees will grow to maturity which could earn the farmer Ksh 900,000 assuming that each tree is sold at Ksh10,000.

According to Kenya Agricultural Reseach Organisation (KARLO) Institute of Food Crops Research Director Dr Joyce Malinga, the above plot could earn the farmer more if the trees are substituted with either macadamia trees, sought for its nuts and avocados.

While taking farmers through the benefits of the two crops, Dr Malinga said most parts of Elgeyo Marakwet are suitable for the crops which would also beautify homesteads.

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One macadamia tree can produce 20kgs on average, a farmer could earn Sh5,200 a year since the nuts are harvested twice a year. On the same piece of land, a farmer can grow up to 14 macadamia trees on his compound. The trees, at the 15th year, will earn him Ksh780,000.But since the tree will start producing the nuts at around three years, the farmer could earn more.

“That is the better side of 'going nuts',” Dr Malinga jokingly said to the farmers during the field day as she encouraged them to venture into growing the crop.

Deputy Governor Wisley Rotich said the county in conjunction with other partners would start a nursery at the Centre so that farmers could access the seedlings. He urged farmers to buy the seedlings from available stockist while the county sets up the nurseries.

“I am happy that many of our farmers want to grow macadamia. This is one way of kicking out poverty that has pulled us down for so long.” he said.

He said maize being the main cash crop did not get major returns due to low prices. He further urged farmers to grow other crops like beans and avocado.

“On average,farm demonstration has shown that 25kg seeds of the beans produce between six to 10 bags translating to between Sh48,000 to Sh80,000 per season. The beans also are of high nutrition value and takes shorter time to mature compared to maize,” he added.

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: 23 August 2018; Hits: 8770

Agriculture ministry urges farmers to make own animal feeds to reduce production costs of milk

Dairy farmers who make their own animal feeds in their farms can reduce the production costs of one liter of milk from Sh21 to Sh14, a reduction of 33 per cent.

According to Kenya’s ministry of agriculture, the cost of milk production in Kenya is double the neighboring country of Uganda at the farm level. This was according to data obtained from a survey conducted in nine counties across the country.

The ministry is therefore encouraging farmers to produce their own animal feeds to bring down the production cost to Sh14 and sell a liter of milk at Sh35 thereby reaping a profit of Sh21 per liter.

The Kenya Dairy Board reports that expensive cost of milk production in Kenya is due to the fact that 60 per cent of the milk is produced through zero grazing which is costly while only 15 per cent of the total production is via open grazing.

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Hayrono

Geoffrey Rono, a hay farmer in Narok.

So far, the Samburu County government, a pastoralist region with about 184,666 heads of cattle has set aside 5,000 acres for pasture production in a bid to improve farmers’ income by training them on hay farming then purchasing their produce for storage to be used during the dry season.

The national government is also encouraging farmers to plant hay to be stored for use when pasture is scarce while the excess is exported.

The quantity of milk delivered to dairy processors recorded a significant drop of 17.4 per cent from 648.2m liters in 2016 to 535.7m liters in 2017 according to the 2018 economic survey report.

In this, the quantity of processed milk and cream from processing plants decreased by 8.5 per cent and that of butter and ghee declined by 22 per cent. Production of cheese however, increased from 311.2 tonnes in 2016 to 338.3 tonnes in 2017.

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: 22 August 2018; Hits: 8840

Kenya to host international farm tech expo in September

The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization (KALRO) will host an international farm tech expo on September 12^th to 13^th 2018. The expo will be a one stop shop for farming professionals to find all services needed to manage a modern agricultural operation with value additions.

The expo will be held at KALRO Dairy Research Institute, Naivasha branch along the Nakuru-Nairobi highway. The expo is free for all interested visitors and interested parties can register at www.farmtechexpo.com.

“The world-class trade platform is designed to empower, inform and transition Kenya’s agri value chain into the 21st century. The need, and indeed, demand for an event of this nature has been clear for some time and Farm-Tech Expo Kenya will become a reality in 2018. Allowing the opportunity for the Kenyan farming community to come together at one platform to test and compare products side by side in order to identify the right tools to advance productivity with a competitive edge,” said Jack Ouda, the Director, Knowledge, Information and Outreach at KALRO.

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farm tech expo

The expo is expected to be attended by small scale, commercial and emerging farmers, key officials from regional governments, agro dealers, traders and retailers, technology and solution providers, consultants and technical experts, venture capitalists, investors and bankers, research agencies, agents and distributors.

In this, there will be over 4,000 industry professionals, 90+ exhibiting companies, 14+ agriTEACH training workshops, 11 live crop trials and 10+ machinery and equipment demos.

Visitors will get a chance to grow their business ideas, increase profits and yields while at the same time network with industry professionals.

Farmers will enhance their skills and knowledge through interactive agri-tech training workshops designed to modernize the small scale farmer.

Buyers or sellers of farm produce will get to know how to make informed purchase decisions by meeting with local and international suppliers in the entire agriculture value chain.

There will also be live planting demonstrations with the latest advancements in fertilizer application expected to be showcased.

Visitors will also get an opportunity to see the latest agricultural equipment, technologies and solutions available to keep your farming operation performing at its peak economically.

As Sh150bn worth of produce went to waste last year due to market challenges, farmers will be taken through the methods to reach export quality.

In this, they can then generate direct sales with new business prospects and find new distributors to discuss potential investment opportunities.

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