Smart farms

: 18 July 2022; Hits: 3918

Kenya secures Sh7.5B loan for subsidised fertilizer & seeds ahead of short rains

a1 taat kenya lucy njeri beneficiary

By George Munene

The African Development Bank Group has approved a Sh7.5 billion loan to Kenya to enable the government to provide affordable fertilizer and seeds to farmers ahead of the October-December 2022 short rains and into the 2022/2023 long rains crop production season.

This will boost cereals and oil seeds production by over 1.5 million metric tonnes over the next two years. It is part of an Africa-wide initiative to avert a looming food crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

The project entails the delivery of certified seeds, fertilizers, and agricultural extension to 650,000 farmers to boost productivity. An e-voucher system will be used in their disbursal, ensuring that subsidies for inputs are “smart”.

“We are pleased to present the Kenya African Emergency Food Production Facility,” said Dr. Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development. “Successful implementation of the Facility will see some 650,000 farmer direct beneficiaries, resulting in the production of 1.5 million tonnes of cereals and oil seeds. In all, the Facility will positively impact some 2.8 million people,” she added.

Another project component will provide trade finance guarantees and leverage the private sector to ensure sufficient fertilizer volumes are available to farmers. In addition to boosting staple food availability, the project, which targets smallholder farmers, is expected to particularly benefit women and youth.

“The government is looking into ways and means of addressing the cost of ‘unga’ (maize flour) to bring it down so that consumers can afford it,” said Peter Munya, Kenya’s Agriculture Cabinet Secretary.

Kenya—and other countries in East Africa and the Horn of Africa — have been hit hard by not only the inflationary effects of the war in Ukraine, locust swarms, fall army worm invasion, and climate- and drought-related impacts. The number of food-insecure people in the country’s pastoral and marginal areas rose by 48% between August 2021 and February 2022, according to estimates.

These overlapping shocks—together with the Covid-19 pandemic--have set back Kenya’s progress towards achieving its sustainable development goals.

On May 20, the Bank Group’s Board of Directors approved the African Emergency Food Production Facility, which will provide agricultural seeds to 20 million African farmers. The goal is to produce an additional 38 million tonnes of food, primarily wheat, maize, rice, and soybeans which will generate $12 billion over the next two years.

Photo Courtesy of the African Emergency Food Facility program for Kenya

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: 15 July 2022; Hits: 2924

Nutrition expert churns traditional vegetables to flour

amaranth flour

Amaranth can easily be mistaken for just another pesky weed. And while those who don't see it as a weed may plant amaranth as a vegetable, Ann Muthoni, a nutrition expert, is seeing it through to its full potential, by making a unique flour out of it.

“My company produces one tonne of amaranth flour products every day, which includes toasted amaranth porridge flour, whole-grain puffed amaranth, baby weaning formula and fortified maize flour, packaged in 250g, 500g and 2kg,” said Ann

She sells a 2kg bag of fortified maize flour at a whole sale price of Sh140 to supermarkets which later retail it for Sh147.

After arriving in Kenya in 1997 from Sweden, where she first heard about the flour, Muthoni looked for Dr. Davidson Mwangi, who had already ventured into amaranth farming. For four years, she accompanied Dr. Mwangi in teaching and sensitizing farmers on amaranth farming. She later took to farming herself, making her first harvest in 2003.

Using the sales and marketing skills she had learnt while assisting Dr. Mwangi, Muthoni started outsourcing amaranth grains from farmers across the country and selling them to local processing companies. And in 2008, she had enough exposure and experience to start her processing plant, in Ruai, under the brand name Annico Enterprise.

She now sells the highly lucrative and nutritious flour at various supermarkets across the country, including Tuskys, Clean Shelf and Kamidi.

While being a high-value crop, Ann's success demonstrates that amaranth was worth the investment.

Exports values of fruits and vegetables increased by 23.3 per cent and three per cent, respectively in 2017 according to the 2018 economic survey report.

A 2016 FAO report on promoting the growth and development of small holder farmers and food security stated that high value crops are regarded as a key to economic empowerment of small holder farmers. The report observes that most small holder farmers - especially in the developing world - are reluctant to change, which ultimately can damage their farm production.

The FAO report cites a case study of small holder farmers in South Africa who have stuck to maize farming for many years, receiving low yields due to depleted soils. The report also offered those farmers an alternative, through planting legumes such as peas and soya beans, which are high value crops and ideal for nitrogen fixation.

Although she has contracted farmers across the country to deliver her the produce, Ann lamented that the lack of a steady supply of amaranth leaves is slowing her down. She, however, describes the business as rewarding, after getting contracted to stock 52 Tuskys supermarket branches across the country.

Not only does it prove its worth in sales, but amaranth seeds are highly nutritious. Amaranth flour is low in cholesterol and sodium, and is also a good source of iron, magnesium and phosphorus, as well as manganese and folic acid, both essential nutrients for mothers and children.

Muthoni’s success shows that good earnings can be made from high value crops, most of which are ignored by many farmers. Grain amaranth, after planting, grows with little maintenance. It can be harvested thrice in a year and a kilogram retails for Sh50.

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: 13 July 2022; Hits: 3368

Nakuru farmer realise full value from soya through value-addition

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A value addition self help group in Nakuru is assisting smallholder farmers diversify their income with the practice of extracting milk from soya beans to make soyamilk being among its most successful venture which is now earning each farmer at least Sh30,000 every month.

Reuben Ng’ang’a like any other small scale farmer could only think of rearing chicken, planting maize and other cereals in his two acre piece of land. But a visit to Edgewood Value Addition self help group changed his perception of farming changed making him realize the untapped potential of crops like soya bean and the fortunes that lay in adding value to them.

"My land was hardly enough to keep dairy cows and other livestock, so I sought alternatives to reap maximum benefits from the farm" said Ng'ang'a. The farmer says after the trip to the group, all he could think about was how he could invest in making soya milk. Since then, the crop has changed his life. The farming project started with two kilogrammes of soya seeds bought from the former Kenya Agricultural Research Institute. "We bought the two kilogrammes at a cost of Sh300. We were advised to buy Nyala and Gazelle that produce best milk," Ng'ang'a said. From the two kilogrammes, Ng'ang'a harvested 90 kilogrammes after seven months. Since he started farming soya, he no longer buys cow milk for his household.

He also used the by-products to feed and treat his animals. For his family consumption, Ng'ang'a uses half a kilo of soya beans to produce two litres of milk. "Half a kilo soya costs Sh50 hence it is economical because I can get two litres. The same amount of cow milk costs Sh70," Ng'ang'a says. The extracted milk is sold at Sh30-40 per litre, but Ng'ang'a. The only problem is they cannot produce enough to meet the demand.

Ng'ang'a says the dry season which starts in January to March is their busiest because demand is high since feeding cows during that period is expensive. "The period has insufficient animal fodder hence low milk production which forces farmers and residents to use soya milk," Ng'ang'a says. He also produces cooking fat, flour, ugali, soya beverage. "I have been growing various crops in my piece of land ranging from sweet potatoes, cassava bananas, and various fruits and due to small size of the land, but value addition the secret to prosperity" Ng'ang'a says.

Cassava, bananas and sweet potatoes are dried and crushed to make flour, which he sells to the locals to earn a living. Ng'ang'a said his children are healthy and rarely fall sick because they consume soya milk and other plants grown under organic farming. "This value addition farming has improved my life to educate and pro-vide for my family and also purchase a prime plot therefore I do not regret joining it," Ng'ang'a said. He regrets that he and the rest of the group are unable to meet the demand. "We have missed several contracts from supermarkets and other institutions due to low production as we use traditional method of extraction," he said.

The group is looking to raise Sh300,000 to buy an extraction plant. Low temperatures also hinder growth of soya in the area limiting their harvest to once a year rather than twice like in areas with high temperatures. To market their produce, farmers have embraced a door-to-door marketing strategy, media and attending numerous agricultural exhibitions in the last three years. The group expects a Sh100,000 grant from the Njaa Marufuku programme, an initiative established in 2005 under the Ministry of Agriculture to boost small-scale farming. "The Ministry of Agriculture has supported us through training and funding," Ng'ang'a said.

The beans are soaked in hot water for 15-30 minutes to make removal of the coat easy. "It is not advisable to soak the soya bean in cold water because it produces bad smell which will change the quality of milk," Ng'ang'a said.

The group uses traditional way of crushing the beans using a tree trunk with a hole at the middle (mortar) using a metal bar (pestle). "The crushed soya is mixed with hot water. The amount of water added determines the quality of milk. If someone re-quires thick milk, less water is added and vice versa but one should careful not to dilute it too much," Ng'ang'a said. The final stage is to squeeze and sieve the mixture with a clean white cotton cloth. The milk is then boiled for preservation

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