Smart farms

: 23 March 2018; Hits: 12375

County government to build own sugar factory saving farmers transport costs

Sugarcane being loaded on a tructor for trasportation to the factory. Transporters bill farmers between Sh450 and Sh1,500 to transport sugarcane from their farms to the mills, depending on distance covered.

Sugarcane farmers from Kisii County are set to enjoy less transport costs of about Sh300 a tonne of cane transported to the millers as compared to Sh2,000 a tonne the farmers are transporting their cane to other sugar companies outside the county such as Sony Sugar factory in Migori County and Sukari sugar factory in South Nyanza.

With the expected new company, Kisii Renewable Energy and Sugar Factory Company Limited by a private investor to be built in South Mugirango Sub County, 122,000 tonnes of sugar cane produced in the county and transported to millers in other counties will be processed within.

“Cane farming has immense economic potential hence the decision to invest in a sugarcane factory. The factory will take away the transport burden from our farmers and create direct and indirect employment besides lowering production costs,” said Ibrahim Moiro, the county minister of Trade and Industry.

Transporters bill farmers between Sh450 and Sh1,500 to transport sugar cane from their farms to the mills, depending on distance covered. This cost has become critical as firms source for the raw material in far flung zones according to the Kenya Sugar Board (KSB).

The cost of transporting the raw material is based on the distance which is identified through zoning, where each zone has its cost. The distance is calculated based on the radius between the factory and the farm.

The dominant sugar miller, Mumias Sugar for example, charges farmers Sh399 for a tonne of cane from zone A-B while the farthest zone they charge Sh1,999.

This according to the Kisii leaders will be a thing of the past as farmers will have a factory within the county to absorb all their produce.

“Other than the farmers benefiting on transportation costs, the community in general stand to benefit from this factory through creation of social amenities like schools, health centres and access roads among other facilities,” said the leader of Executive Committee Members (ECMs) Moses Onderi.

“Current production of sugarcane in this county stands at 245,000 tonnes per year but research shows this can rise to 600,000 tonnes annually with modern farming methods.”

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Currently, a total of 3500 ha is under sugarcane in Kisii County.

The latest development on this is various government departments directly involved in the establishment of the new factory presenting their views before the concerned senate committee to kick off the building of the Sh2.4 billion sugar factory.

Some of these state departments involved are National Lands Commission (NLC), National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) and Environment Ministry.

RELATED ARTICLE: Sugarcane farmers use beetles to tame pest

The heads of these departments have been appearing before Senate Lands committee chaired Mwangi Githiomi (Ndarangua) to give their views on the impact of the project and its viability.

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: 22 March 2018; Hits: 21285

Mombasa Company invests in coconut husk briquettes to save forests

Coconut husks. Photo courtecy.

A company at the coast is cashing in on the tones of discarded coconut husks and shells and turning them into briquettes, as it trains its eyes on other counties with a view to turning the eyesore that is waste into sources of energy.

A visit to an old lady’s house two years ago by the CEO of Kencoco Ltd, acronym for Kenya Coconut, inspired Mr. Said Twahir into turning coconut waste to briquettes. “We were in Kilifi and were visiting this old lady. It was heart breaking to see despite her old age and poor health, there was so much smoke covering her house. I imagined how tough it must have been for her. I knew something could be done and somehow deep inside at that moment I felt I was the person to do it,” Twahir said.

20 per cent of all waste in Mombasa is from coconut, with coconut being a bigger eyesore due to its slow rate of decay compared to other biodegradable materials. Majority of the residents of the coastal regions especially in Kilifi and Kwale county where most of the waste is found depend on firewood for cooking. This has taken a toll on forest cover and the water sources in the area.

This is the situation Kencoco has to correct. Working with farmers from the two counties, the company gets the residents, mostly women, to gather the coconut husks and shells which the company then picks at designated areas every week. It has been a journey that has seen the company grow from just producing 100 kilos of briquettes to now 1 tonne currently.

Upon delivery of the husks, they are crushed into a machine and carbonized to turn them into charcoal dust. Through a machine called the charcoal extruder the dust is then heated at high temperatures before turning the dust into the final product.

For every 100 kilos of the coconut husks, the company is able to extract 30 kilos of the charcoal. “We are still using a mediocre technology but we are importing a modern variety that can get us up to 70 kilos for every 100,” Twahir said.

His customers range from households, institutions to major supermarkets at the coast. The briquettes are packaged into one, three, five, ten and 25 kilos. A kilo goes for Sh30. “Briquettes cook faster than the normal firewood and they last longer also. The impact this is having on local communities, easing pressure on our forests and removing the waste from the counties is tremendous,” said Twahir.

Inspired by the growth of the business and the market response, Kencoco Ltd now plans to replicate the model into other counties in the country where farmers are struggling with waste. The company is exploring opening a plant in Western and Kisumu area to tap into bagasse, the waste from sugarcane, and in Baringo targeting the vilified Mathenge plant. “We are also exploring investment in Machakos county to tap into the animal waste especially from the Kenchic plant in Athi River. We are also keen on the investment incentives extended by the Machakos governor Dr. Alfred Mutua,” said Twahir.

Kencoco’s investment comes at a time when numerous studies have hailed the recycling of waste as a pivotal means of providing thousands of poor households with low cost and sustainable sources of energy while protecting the environment.

According to the United Nations Environment Progamme, UNEP, use of briquettes as a source of energy for rural communities is enough can mitigate the adverse effects of climate change by up to 60 per cent, as they offer viable alternatives to the traditional firewood which has led to massive deforestation.

In Kenya wood fuel contribute to 70 per cent of the national energy demand with approximately 90 per cent of rural households using wood fuel as either firewood or charcoal.

The UN further indicate that about 14,300 women in Kenya die every year from inhaling toxic gases from wood fuel.

For more information contact:

CEO Kencoco Ltd Mombasa

0705234203

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: 22 March 2018; Hits: 10798

Flower company gives free sheep to Maasai herders to increase their income

Oserian dorper sheep Grazing dorper sheep. Oserian flower firm uses the sheep to keep the grass short around the flower greenhouses further reducing insects that may cause diseases affecting plants.

Oserian Development Company, a flower producer and exporter in Kenya is giving to the local Maasai herders free high-breed sheep called the Dorper that adapts well to tough climatic conditions and matures faster than their traditional sheep upping the herders’ returns up to Sh10, 000 per sheep from Sh1,000.

The Naivasha-based flower firm yearly set aside some rams which are donated to the community and used to cross breed with the local varieties resulting to a sheep with a low fat quality meat and a hardy type which performs well in dry areas.

“We selects some of our ram lambs every year and donate them to the community, to help improve their flocks,” said Mr. Hamish Ker, Oserian’s Technical Director.

“The company imports the pedigree breed sheep from South Africa and keep them in the farm to help keep the grass short around the flower greenhouses further reducing insects that may cause diseases affecting plants.”

The sheep’s unique traits have seen the resuscitation of sheep farming among the herders which has been on a downward trend in recent years owing to poor markets for the local varieties, said Ker.

The sheep has become so popular that farmers from neighbouring countries like Tanzania and Rwanda are flocking the country to buy ewes to cross breed with their local sheep.

"Demand for breeding ewes has been rising far beyond the supply. Farmers from neighbouring countries such as Tanzania have been flocking the Kenya to buy ewes," says Ms Kone Ole-Sein, a dorper farmer from Kajiado County and also the national Secretary of the Dorper Breeders Society of Kenya.

"Dorper does well on natural pastures, although farmers may offer supplementary feeding during scarcity or based on nutritional requirements.”

They are hardy and perform well in low ecological zones," noted Ms OleSein, the proprietor of the 1,700 acre Rimpa Estates in Kiserian. According to Ms OleSein, a breeding ram currently costs between Sh25,000 and Sh40,000 with ewes selling from Sh10,000 to Sh15,000 underscoring the increased monetary value of the dorper. Besides the dietary benefit the dorper sheep breed is said to be hardy and performs well in dry areas.

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With the rising demand, large scale farmers and government farms have been breeding rams that are then sold to farmers for multiplication. "We breed rams and then sell to farmers for breeding purposes. Demand for rams is high across the country," says Mr. Cleopas Wahome, a livestock production officer with Naivasha Sheep and Goat Station, a government farm.

The farm has a flock of 550 dorper sheep. According to Mr. Wahome, dorper sheep have a good mothering ability and exhibit a long breeding season. They have good adaptability and are non-selective grazers- making maximum use of available pastures.

"When breeding ewes are well man-aged through proper feeding, disease and parasite control, they will bear twinning from the third lambing. They should be properly flushed- fed well be-fore mating to increase the chances of twinning," he says.

According to these experts, a mature ram can weigh between 80kg and 114 kg with the eves weighing 57kg to 80 kg. This high yield in meat has attracted many farmers eager to raise sheep and make profits quickly.

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