Smart farms

: 13 June 2018; Hits: 18702

Kenya Breweries now targets the youth with sorghum farming

white sorghum1

Kenya’s number one beer maker, Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL), is targeting the youth in a campaign aimed at making sorghum farming an attractive and profitable venture.

This comes at a time when reports shows that youth engagement in agriculture is declining amidst rising youth unemployment yet the services and industrial sectors, despite growing at considerably faster rates have not created enough jobs for the burgeoning youthful labor force.

According to The Centre of Excellence for Youth Engagement, one of the major setbacks of agricultural development programmes is attributed to the inability of the federal government to integrate youths into the mainstream of the numerous agricultural development programmes implemented over the years.

To help solve this, KBL is offering fast-maturing seeds, free extension services, and steady farm and factory gate prices promises to lure the youth into farming white sorghum.

White sorghum is used purposely to manufacture cheaper, low-end beer, whose production also seeks to lower the consumption of unhealthy illicit brews.

The spirited campaign across western Kenya is also aimed at helping the national and county governments solve unemployment problem by spurring growth in the informal sector.

The beer maker which is set to open a Sh15bn keg brewery in Kisumu next month is asking young people to cultivate as small as one-acre farms for steady returns.

Extension services:

With extension services that include directions on fertiliser use, the firm is assuring farmers of harvesting at least 18 bags an acre after just three months, and payment of Sh32 a kilo for the Gadam and Silo sorghum varieties.

In addition the brewer in collaboration with the Busia, Migori, Homa-Bay, Kisumu and Siaya county governments, will help farmers fight invasive grain-eating birds through seasonal spraying of nests.

KBL Head of Engagement and Sustainability Jean Kiarie said bloc farming and the introduction of seed varieties that are less attractive to the birds were options they were exploring.

Although the firm initially targeted up to 25,000 farmers to supply the sorghum, Ms Kiarie said they were open to embracing as many small-scale farmers as possible.

Entrepreneurship summit:

While addressing an entrepreneurship summit in Busia, she urged the youth to embrace sorghum farming as well as the Senator Keg beer as the region gears up for the launch of Kisumu Brewery next month.

“We are implementing a ‘West for West’ strategy in our local sourcing of sorghum, which seeks to have the majority of raw materials for Kisumu Brewery sourced from the western and lake regions of the country."

The youth, she said, stood to benefit from the project, which promises 'instant and steady returns on minimum investment'.

“The youth here in Busia County and across the region have been presented with a huge opportunity to join the agribusiness sector through sorghum farming or be part of our distribution channel for Senator Keg,” she said.

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: 12 June 2018; Hits: 40717

How Limuru lady is earning big from strawberry farming

Strawberry jam.

Mary Gathoni Kiuni who grows strawberry in a quarter acre piece of land in Limuru is earning more from the venture by using the fruits to make and sell jam and juice as opposed to selling the fruits alone.

Gathoni started farming strawberry in 2006 after attending a training at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) by Ministry of Agriculture on how to grow the crop and add value to it for more income.

“I got introduced to the venture twelve years ago upon attending attaining training which exposed me to the benefits coming by growing the fast maturing crop,” said Gathoni.

According to her, the crop takes about three months to mature depending on the temperature condition of a place. It takes even below three months to mature in warmer areas as compared to colder places and this even reflects during harvesting as much rain resulting to coldness slows production.

For the fruits, Gathoni harvest up to 100 punnets a day and she harvests twice a week or even more when it is warm. She sells a punnet of strawberry fruits at Sh100 farm gate price and Sh120 a punnet in the market.

“I harvest sometimes 50, 80 or even 100 punnets a day which are bout on order from the farm or sometimes I take them to Limuru Town and markets within Nairobi. I also sell during farmers open days, agricultural shows and exhibitions.”

“Market is big for strawberry fruits and a farmer cannot go wrong by growing the crop.”

To avoid any wastage, she has been using any remaining fruits which are not bought or small in size and are undesirable to traders to make juice and jam upon approval by Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in 2007 a year after she started farming strawberries.

However, she has since stopped making juices to concentrate on jam which she says is on high demand as compared to juice.

“I have been dividing my focus on selling the fruits, making and selling jam and juice something which exhaustive. That is why I no longer make juice for sale but instead for subsistence use to concentrate on jam,” said Gathoni.

She makes 30-30 kilos of jam a day. She sells 120 grams at Sh100, 300 grams at Sh150 and 500 grams at Sh250. She also sells strawberry seedlings at Sh30 each.

Strawberries

She has since become an expert in the sector offering training at Sh500 per head to fellow farmers. She also lectures on the same at JKUAT on an invitation when women from all the 47 counties gather there for an agribusiness empowerment forum.

“This strawberry farming has made me gone places and educate many fellow women and farmers in general. I train during agricultural shows, farmers’ open days, on an invitation for lectures and at my farm for farmers who like more practical courses,” said Gathoni.

In December last year, she was among 830 strong-team from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan and the host country Burundi to grace the 18^th edition of the annual East Africa Community Jua Kali/Nguvu Kazi Exhibition where she offered a training.

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Monday, 11 January 2021 [quote=Hellen]What is the physical address of her farm in Limuru, where i Can vi...

Tuesday, 05 January 2021 What is the physical address of her farm in Limuru, where i Can visit for the tr...

: 11 June 2018; Hits: 13313

Crop rotation scales high Nyeri farm production at between 15-20 tonnes of produce per acre

Onion Farming in Kenya

Nava Farm in Nyeri County is growing potatoes, tomatoes, beans, garlic and red onions on rotation that has kept its production all-time high of 15-20 tonnes per acre besides reducing the risk of pest and weed infestations, improving diversity in plant production and upping humus formation.

According to a research One Acre Fund by in 2016, crop rotation can improve soil health through increased soil organic matter and increased available nitrogen through nitrogen fixation. The rotation can also decrease pest and disease pressure by disrupting pest and disease cycles that rely on the continuous presence of maize as a host hence boosting production.

“Our farm is 40 acres but we have divided it in several paddocks of acres for different crops which we keep rotating from time to time which has kept our production high and of standard,” said Daniel Gakuu, the farm manager.

The farm is currently having garlic under four acres, potatoes 14 acres, red onions four acres and beans also four acres. The rest of the farm is divided equally under avocado and vegetable production.

According to Gakuu an acre can produce a minimum of 15 tonnes of onions and 20 tonnes on the maximum and that has kept the farm steady in the market as it supplies traders who constantly visit the farm to buy the produce at farm gate price.

“We sell a kilo of garlic at Sh65 and a kilo of red onions at Sh30 a kilo during peak periods. We sell our produce depending on market price.”

The farm sell its produce to traders from Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nakuru and as far as South Sudan who plcae their orders and produce delivered to them or come to the farm and buy what is fetching the farm about Sh480,000 gross and Sh300,000 profit just from onions alone.

“We are able to make our profit because we do not deal with middlemen but work with bulk buyers directly. The minimum someone can buy from us is five tonnes,” said Gakuu.

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