Smart farms

: 05 April 2018; Hits: 10159

NGO turning untilled land into an income generating venture

Nyaru Honey Eldoret Packaged Nyaru Farm honey. The farm was used for maize and wheeat production before left fallow. It is now under beekeeping and hay production.

Economic Projects Transformational Facility (EPTF), a non-governmental organization which aims to spur enterprise development among the youth and eradicate poverty in the society has turned a farm in Eldoret which was left untilled and underutilized for about ten years into hay production and beekeeping ventures for commercial purposes.

Dubbed Nyaru Farm, the land which is about 32 acres was used for maize and wheat production between the year 2000 and 2006 when the owner migrated to Mombasa and left the land unused until around 2010 when EPTF approached the owner and stroke a deal which has seen the farm under serious agricultural activities to benefit the young people.

“Through the assist of the NGO, we have been able access trainings and business development support services which are key in managing the farm activities for profit,” said Geoffrey Ng’etich, the farm manager.

The farm also acts as training ground for university students who are interested in agribusiness especially during their long vacation and internship programmes.

“We receive students each season who come as farm helps to practically learn on farm management. They keep on alternating depending on their holyday and industrial attachment periods,” said Ng’etich.

Currently the farm has about 10 acres under Boma Rhodes hay production which according to Ng’etich takes 4-5 years to mature and it does not need much attention as compared to maize or wheat farming.

“After the first harvesting the crop do not need much work and matures faster meaning less waiting time to sell the grass,” said Ng’etich adding that there is good money in hay farming.

The farm currently produce 845 bales of hay from six acres and projecting to harvest over 1,200 bales come May. A bale of hay grass retails between Sh250 and Sh150 depending on distance to market and market demand at a given time.

“We do not harvest our grass before receiving market or sales orders as we prefer selling them when still fresh and to decongest our small store which are the two challenges we are facing at the moment.”

Additionally, the farm earns Sh800 per kilogram of processed and packaged honey as compared to Sh100 a kilogram of raw honey, thanks to value addition that it has adopted towards the end of 2016 to enable it reach more markets with a quality product.

The farm started with 15 beehives in 2015 from which about 75 kilograms of raw honey could be harvested per season and sold to direct consumers at Sh100 per kilo. However, this changed in 2016 when the farm purchased 30 more beehives and a centrifugal honey extractor machine to improve honey quality and quantity.

“Though we currently have our 32 beehives fully occupied with bees, we harvest 200Kg of raw honey a season from ten beehives giving us over 150Kg refined honey,” said Geoffrey Ng’etich, the farm manager.

“The centrifugal honey extractor machine enables us extract honey from the honey combs without destroying them. The extractor is manually operated and it can be used by one person to extract honey from over 30 beehives.”

The farm operates under Graduate Internship Programme (GRIP), the programme which gives the youth and women opportunity and support to venture in various businesses to earn a living.

To keep the beehives packed with bees, the farm has planted flowering plants such as sunflower, acacia, avocadoes and orange fruit trees among other trees to help attract the bees and provide nectar for honey production.

The farm buys its packaging bottles from Eldoret Town and Nairobi where a bottle costs Sh20. The bottle are then labelled ‘Nyaru Honey’ as the brand identification.

Honey is then filled in the bottles and sold directly to customers who come to the farm to buy or place orders in GRIP offices in Eldoret Town.

A 500g bottle of honey goes at Sh400 while that of 250g fetches Sh200 per bottle.

The farm has further applied for Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for their product certification to allow them access more markets and win tenders with supermarkets and retail shops.

“Lack of certification papers from the buereau is limiting us from reaching bigger markets at the moment. However, in the near future, once we get out certificate we will move to market our products countrywide, applying for supply tenders from the supermarkets and retail shops,” said Ng’etich.

"We are also projecting to start harvesting from 33 beehives soon expecting 60Kg refined honey per season. This we expect to earn us approximately Sh48,000 per season."

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: 05 April 2018; Hits: 15890

Government gives free 60,000 orange fleshed sweet potato vines to farmers

The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service in collaboration with World Vision last week supplied over 60,000 orange fleshed sweet potato vines to farmers in Elgeyo Marakwet and Bomet counties in the Rift Valley at a time when maize production is affected by the fall armyworm menace that destroyed approximately 800,000 hectares of land in 2017 causing losses of about 16m bags according to FAO.

Currently, two varieties of the sweet potato are in production by the KEPHIS- plant quarantine and bio-security station responsible for producing clean certified tissue culture plantlets for farmers.

China is the world’s largest grower of sweet potatoes, providing about 80 per cent of global supply.

Farmers make silage from sweet potato vines

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Orange fleshed sweet potatoes do well in well drained soils with ideal temperatures of 12 -25 degrees Celsius and an annual rainfall of 600 – 1600mm during the planting season.

The land should tilled until the soil is fine, farm yard manure is then spread evenly over the soil and ridges developed to allow for future root development without obstruction.

Planting of the crop is done at the onset of the rains in case a farmer depends on rain-fed rain. Disease free vines at a length of about 30cm should be planted at a spacing of one meter from row to row and 30cm from one vine to another.

In areas with poor soils, a compound fertilizer such as 17:17:17 at 100kg per hectare is applied at two intervals, one at planting and the other two weeks after the first weeding. The second weeding is done two weeks after the first is done.

sweet potato farming in kenya

There are various pests such as the sweet potato weevil and the sweet potato moth that attack the orange fleshed sweet potatoes.

An infestation by the weevil is characterized by cracking of the vines due to feeding by the adult weevil and holes by the larvae. It is controlled by use of clean certified planting vines and regular filling up of the soil around the base of the plants.

Attack by the sweet potato moth causes wilting and eventual death of the plants. The affected plants in this case are uprooted and destroyed.

Orange fleshed sweet potatoes mature within four to six months with potential maximum yield of eight tonnes per acre.

The crop is rich in vitamin A and E, which are essential in preventing malnutrition which affects over half of the world’s population. Vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness and poor immune system.

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: 05 April 2018; Hits: 12339

Farmer boosts maize nutrition with soy beans

maize flour suppliers in South Africa

Maize flour. One farmer is boosting the nutritional content of maize with soy beans flour. Photo by Maize Suppliers.

While most families strive daily to eat mineral-deficient ugali, which mainly supplies energy, Joseph Nyangweso is ‘adding value’ to the meal by lacing the flour with protein-rich soy beans.

Soy beans are grown mostly for industrial applications of extracting edible oil by companies like Bidco or fortification of baking and cooking flour.

But the farmer, who has been growing the soy beans for small-scale selling, realised the seeds lost viability after six months if not replanted or sold.

This farmer from the Kisii Migori border town of Nyamarambe sells one kilo of the soy seeds between Sh40 and Sh50.

“The market is poor if one does not have a direct link to companies that require the beans in large quantities. Unlike other beans, maize and other gains, the quality of soy depreciates as time goes by after harvesting. I started trying including it in my maize flour,” Nyangweso said.

The protein content in soy beans ranges from 36 per cent to 56 per cent of grain dry weight. One cup of boiled soy beans that is about 172g gives 29g of proteins, according to the Soybeans 101: Nutritional factsheet.

Just like other proteins, some people have allergic reaction after consumption. Nyangweso carried out some research on the recommended mix ration.

He found out that at least one kilogramme in every four kilos of the maize flour is sufficient. That translates to about 25 per cent of soy beans flour, which should be in the mix.

Classic Foods Ltd CEO Wachora Kariuki says the soy beans content should not exceed 25 per cent as this cause over supply of one nutrient, which may be a threat to health.

Classic Foods processes soy beans into flour and the waste is converted to animal feeds.

Maize is a stable food for more than three quarters of the population.

Apart from energy, maize is a poor source of nutrients like proteins, fats and other minerals such as potassium, iron and calcium among others.

For poor families that cannot afford a balanced diet, fortification has been introduced to cater for those who can buy the flour.

That is why the government of Kenya has made it compulsory for the maize millers, to fortify the flour with minerals to fight malnutrition.

Amaranth seeds are one of the sources of iron and other minerals after grinding.

In adding value to other foods like baking flour, traders are including the soy beans and amaranth seeds to boost the nutritional content for a balanced diet.

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