Smart farms

: 16 February 2017; Hits: 9928

Stored fodder gives farmer milk during drought

Hay Geoffrey Rono, Narok.jpg

Narok County farmer Geoffrey Rono picks hay bales at his farm. Hay and silage are helping a Nyandarua County farmer maintain milk production this dry spell. Photo Courtesy.

As the country continues to lose livestock to the ongoing drought, one Nyandarua County farmer has maintained milk production with hay and silage, which he harvests and prepares at his farm in Kinangop.
Joseph Mbugua converts the hay into bales and fodder maize into silage, months ahead of every season.
The three cows consume about 40 litres of water per day and he gets about 20-25 litres of milk daily.
The farmer has more than 60 bales of hay which he hopes will take him through the remaining days of February and March 2017, before the April long rains.
Mbugua, who has three Friesians, said the unreliable weathers that affects growth of pastures like Napier grass drove him to a sustainable alternative of stored fodder.
“Although green feeds tend to have more milk than the dried ones, I have managed my cattle through this dry spell. The milk production has dropped by between three to five litres per day, but that is better off, than being without something or death,” he said.
Mbugua harvested the last batch of the hay in November, 2016. Usually, he cuts the fresh oat straws and rolls them into bales after drying under the shade for a day or two.
“Direct drying in the sun lowers the quality of the feeds because of the breakdown of the nutrient components. Drying reduces the moisture content for longevity in storage. Because of the compaction, the feeds may be infested by aflatoxins, which can poison the animals upon feeding if the moisture content is high,” he said.
One cow feeds on a bale of the hay per day. But in improving the quality of the total feeds, Mbugua offers locally made dairy meal together with silage mixed with purple vetch.
In this mix, hay consumption reduces to half a bale per day. The silage mix is a 20litre bucket measure. The molasses in the silage increase the appetite of the cows in feeding.
The maize fodder and molasses offer carbohydrates while the purple vetch and dairy meal adds proteins.
He sticks to the 70 per cent carbohydrate and 30 per cent protein and other mineral balance in feeding.
Because Napier grass does not perform well at his place, cabbage and kale leaves from farms help in supplementing the green feed requirement.
The oat straw hay takes between two and a half and three months to be harvested. From half an acre, the Mugumu Village farmer gets about 60 bales. But during sufficient rains, he harvests more than 80 bales.
Fodder maize is grown on half an acre.

READ ALSO: Farmer earns from hay as peers suffer maize and wheat losses
Mbugua and other dairy farmers in the Central Kenya region buy maize germ from suppliers from Uganda.
A 100kg maize germ- which is also rich in carbohydrates- costs him between Sh1,800 and Sh2,000, depending on the supply. He uses the germ to prepare the local dairy meal by adding sunflower seeds as protein sources.
For every 30kg of the maize germ, Mbugua adds five litres of the molasses.
“The resulting porridge-like liquid is rich in nutrients. The cows consume two litres per day. With such a mix of molasses in silage and the local meal, cows have increased appetite for even dry hay,” he said.
The purple vetch, which has between 16 per cent and 27 per cent crude proteins, is intercropped with fodder maize.
This not only saves on space, but helps in fixing nitrogen into the soil, besides controlling loss of moisture on dry weather and muting weeds.
Oats have about 20 per cent proteins, 4 per cent fats, 11 per cent crude fibre, potassium, manganese, phosphorus, calcium, zinc, among other minerals in various portions.
Although the current fodder maize prematurely dried up in the ongoing dry season, the farmer has prepared another piece of land for the next season.
“I am preparing more fields to grow hay, maize, and purple vetch for the next season. I must have a fodder that takes me through two months or more in advance. In case it fails to rain or snow falls,” Mbugua said.

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: 10 February 2017; Hits: 17963

Sack farming cuts irrigation water

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Festus Mutemi working at his backyard sack farm in Kitui County. Photo Courtesy.

In cutting down the irrigation water requirement, one Kitui County farmer has resorted to growing vegetables in sacks to meet the domestic needs.
The 90kg sacks host between 10 and 15 kales grown at the top as well as on the sides.
Festus Mutemi mixes the soil with sawdust to reduce water loss after irrigation. Three litres of water are sufficient in maintaining the productivity of every sack for a day.
The farmer, who started with eight sacks at his Kitui County home in November 2016, is expanding the trade to his other home at Makueni County. He already has to sacks filled with kales.
“I started with trials. I grew the kales on a sack and others on the ground as a control. After one month of irrigation, the ones in the sacks were doing well while those on the ground- despite receiving the same amount of water daily- were weak,” he said.

The farmer, who is also a student at Laikipia University, picks loam soil, which has good drainage bedsides organic matter and micro organisms for decomposition.
He mixes the soil with about 10kg of goat droppings just before transplanting the seedlings. He later adds chicken droppings mixed with saw dust.
“My family spends at least Sh80 after every three days in purchasing greens. But since November 2016, the expense has been slashed. The little water that is required in this movable farm is just like that in the household,” he said.
The lower eastern region, under which the two counties fall, receives less than 500mm of rain per year, therefore, most to the time it is dry.
As he expands the project to commercial levels, the young agripreneur hopes that sack farming could be helpful in meeting vegetable needs all year round, not only for him, but the residents too.

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: 06 February 2017; Hits: 10235

Agreprenuer earns twice from ripening other farmers' bananas

A farmer inspects a banana bunch at Kitale VI Farm. A Nyamira County farmer makes double earning by ripening banana fingers for schools. PHOTO BY: Laban Robert

As banana growers wait for nine months to get about Sh500 from on bunch another agripreneur is making twice the same amount in two weeks by ripening the fingers for sale to schools.

Afro Ochieng’ buys and ripens the fruit for wholesale to schools around Nyamusi Sub-county, Nyamira County.

A 70kg to 80kg banana costs Ochieng about Sh600. The only ‘value addition’ he does is letting the bananas ripens for four to seven days before packing the hands into the standard bread crates.

“Each crate earns Sh3,000. One needs three bananas bunches to fill the crate. For every full bunch, I make between Sh1,000 and Sh1,100. For some farmers ripening and selling is tedious, but for me, it is my pay,” he said.

The farmer, who also has 20 stands of banana bushes, said secondary schools are his main market.

Ochieng sells at least nine crates every week to Mochenwa, St. Kaiser, among other secondary schools in Nyamusi Su-county.

“Schools buy at wholesale. The trick is having extra money to buy the bananas from those farmers who need ready cash. Ikonge, Magwawa, Riomego, Ekerenyo are renowned places for banana growing, therefore, the supply is steady,” he said.

A banana takes about nine months and one year to grow from a sucker to yielding. By the end of this period, a banana of about 90kg- from tissue culture or another Kisii local variety called ng’ombe- earns farmers Sh800 to Sh900.

Apart from the old 20 stools, he has expanded the banana by adding 80 fresh ones to have him covered during shortages.

Ochieng is part of the Misire Self- help Group, which also bakes bread, cakes and other products from bananas for sale to various outlets in Kisii, Nyamira, Kericho and other neighbouring counties.

The group also dries and grinds banana peelings into power for sale. Banana peelings ‘dust’ is said to lower the ulcer effect due to the various minerals in the uncooked materials.