Smart farms

: 03 May 2018; Hits: 14760

Once jobless youth turns cassava root into about a half a million business venture

cassava crisps Some of the products made from cassava roots. Photo courtecy.

Alex Ombuto, who stayed for about five years without a job now earns over Sh480,000 every year after finding the magic in cassava root which he has been adding value to and making nutritional porridge, crisps and snacks.

The 39 year old graduate from Kisumu Polytechnic as an electrical engineer had expected to secure a job upon completing his course in 2011 only to land on raw employment deals that made him lose hope and start cassava farming and later ventured in value addition on the crop.

“I had no idea that the cassava root I always perceived as a subsistence crop for many rural families in Kenya could be used for making affordable crisps, doughnuts, chips ,snacks, nutritional porridge and even ugali”, said Mr. Ombuto.

Since he introduced the idea to Kisumu residents, commercialisation of cassava has been tremendously gaining popularity and many entrepreneurs and farmers are embracing the root and its products.

The trend has picked up around the upmarket Kilimani in Kisumu town where the business is booming due to the high demand from Asians and Indians living in the region.

“Indians love homemade cassava crisps and doughnuts so much that they often flock my business premises in the evening to take some home”, said the resident of Kilimani estate.

His business targets schools, local hotels, offices, supermarkets and small retail shops.

“More often, industrial buyers are attracted by my homemade-level value addition that simply involves cleaning, chipping and drying which greatly reduces their production costs at their plants”, he said.

A doughnut goes for Sh10 and chapati Sh20. Cakes are sold for between Sh250 to Sh500 depending on the size and are baked on order, with his sales hitting Sh30,000 during social events such as wedings and birth day celebrations where he supplies the products on order.

From his modest savings of sh3,000, Ombuto and his wife Florence Ombuto are now running a business with an annual turnover of Sh480, 000. They have also employed six workers whom they pay Sh250 per day.

The father of six now diversifies his business by buying more land to plant cassavas to reduce costs of purchasing the raw produce. He plans to expand business to reach the potential growth needs of many customers.

The price of his home-crisps ranges between Sh100 and Sh300, depending on quantity and size of the products. However, for his clients such as supermarkets and hotels which buys the producs, the cost depends on quantity purchased. Given their location, the couple enjoys monopoly.

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Tuesday, 13 October 2020 [quote=leah]Very inspiring. Can i get his contacts?[/quote] Hi Leah, We are...

Tuesday, 13 October 2020 Very inspiring. Can i get his contacts?

: 03 May 2018; Hits: 25456

Five feeds to boost your cow’s fertility

A research done by the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Organization reveals that poorly fed cows take more up to two years to conceive. Well-nourished heifers on the other hand can become pregnant at 14 months of age.

In Kenya, the research says that more than 60 per cent of farmers served their heifers when then were much older because of reduced growth rates and delayed puberty attributed to inadequate feeds common in the arid and semi-arid areas of the country.

Sahiwal and Jersey cow breeds most suitable for arid and semi-arid areas

Hormonal lift and good feed cure cow \'infertility\'

To curb this, KALRO recommends that cows should be fed on bulk food such as Napier grass, maize stovers and wheat straws.

Cows also need proteins such as sweet potato vines and lucerne which are important ingredients in building the body muscles and increasing milk production in lactating cows.

Minerals such as dairy lick, maclick super and phosphorus rich flour are responsible for bone formation while calcium in the minerals is a component of body fluids and regulates the heart.

It is also recommended to provide heifers with concentrates like maize germ meal, cotton seed cake and dairy meal in addition to access to two buckets of water per cow per day.

A well–fed cow served between 45 and 90 days after calving will give a calf every year. Cows often lose weight after calving. Good feeding of the cow can reduce this weight loss, which you can check by regularly measuring the width of the chest.

cow feeds

Farmers are advised to serve their cows when they are on heat. There are signs of a cow on heat which include; a cow looking for the company of other cows or bulls, she attempts to mount them, sniffs at other cows or is restless and noisy.

The clearest sign of heat is when the cow stands when being mounted. This means that the cow can be inseminated or served by the bull. If after two days you notice bloody, mucus discharge from vulva, this is a confirmation that the cow was on heat. The next heat period will occur after about three weeks (18-25 days). Look out for signs of heat during these days. If you see them, put the cow back to the bull to ensure conception.

To see the heat signs, watch the cow carefully three times a day: In the morning before and after milking, in the afternoon before and after milking and in the evening around 10 o'clock. Spend at least 20 minutes each time. The more times you observe the better.

A farmer can arrange for artificial insemination or service by a bull. For artificial Insemination best results are obtained when insemination is done at the end of the heat period or at the start of the late heat period. Cows that are in standing heat early in the morning should be inseminated in the afternoon of the same day. Those that are on heat in the afternoon or evening should be inseminated the next day in the morning.

In case a bull has to be used for service, then the cow should be brought to the bull when the heat is observed.

“It should however be noted that not all inseminations are successful. At times, a cow does not conceive at all even after repeated inseminations. It can also happen that cows conceive, but the embryo of the foetus dies. This is most frustrating. In case this happens, call a veterinarian to investigate and advise accordingly” said Vincent Ochieng, a research officer at KALRO.

The latest report by the Kenya Dairy Board indicates that milk production in the country has gone up from 47.9m kilos recorded in January this year to 60.2m kilos in March. The increase in the volume of milk was credited to the ongoing long rains that have led to increase in pasture.

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: 03 May 2018; Hits: 12909

Kisumu County renews plans to revive cotton farming to benefit farmers within Lake Victoria basin

cotton rivival in Kisumu

The county government of Kisumu has become the latest to start the push for reviving cotton farming and marketing to boost the income of farmers within the Lake Region Economic block by opening discussions with experts and stakeholders in the cotton industry.

This comes shortly after cotton farmers from Embu County last year petitioned the national government to lift the ban on biotechnology cotton with the fear that the industry could have deadly collapsed unless they were allowed to access BT cotton variety that can withstand pest attack and does not require spraying.

“Our renewed interest in cotton farming has been sparked by the expected high demand for Kenyan cotton in the US apparel market,” said Kisumu County governor, Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o.

“In addition to the expected high demand, we are also encouraged with the revamped of Rift Valley Textiles (Rivatex) and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which will enable us secure the export market for our produce.”

RELATED ARTICLE: Cotton farmers to earn more as shortage bites

While the Act covers more than 6, 000 products that can be exported to the US on preferential trade terms, Rivatex was resuscitated by Moi University and turned it into a research facility for cotton development, extension and production.

Rivatex, the Eldoret town based industry also has outlets countrywide and sells its products which include khangas, flannels, bed sheets and cotton clothes both locally and in the international markets.

However, other cotton ginneries such as Kisumu Cotton Mills (Kikomi) failed to revive due to lack of viability as there was lack of land for the production of biotechnology cotton which could have led to lack of raw materials should the company been resurrected.

The cotton ginneries which are mostly located in western Kenya operates under the Cotton Board of Kenya.

Nyong’o said that the national government had embraced the high yielding BT cotton and asked farmers in known cotton growing areas within the region to shift focus to the crop to diverse their income.

Over 500 farmers within Kisumu and beyond had embraced sorghum farming following the contract between the farmers and Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) making the farmers turned to the farming of the crop.

“We are in talks with various experts and have also partnered with Lake Basin Development Authority which has been conducting feasibility studies into the viability of cotton farming in the area,” said Nyong’o.

He said sorghum had already earned market at the newly established KBL plant in Kisumu and urged farmers to embrace cotton farming with the same spirit to up their income.

Already Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari) has new high yielding cotton seed varieties suitable for specific regions of the country. These include LKSA81M for Nyanza, Western and Rift Valley regions while HART89M is suitable for Eastern, Central and Coast regions.

It should be remembered that the cotton industry’s collapse has also been blamed on Kenyans turning to buying imported second-hand clothes which were much cheaper than locally made clothes.

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