Smart farms

: 08 September 2022; Hits: 2391

Farmers advised to grow drought-resistant crops as weatherman warns of failed short rains

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By George Munene

The Kenya Meteorological Department has advised farmers to plant early maturing and drought-resistant varieties of crops, fodder, and pasture as it warns of a fifth consecutive unsuccessful rainy season over the October-November-December (OND) 2022 short rains season.

According to its just-released report ‘The Climate Outlook for the October-November-December (OND) 2022 “Short Rains” season’ it is expected that most parts of the country will experience below-average rainfall that will be poorly distributed.

The expected late rain onsets, poor distribution, and reduced amounts of rainfall is likely to negatively affect agricultural production, leading to poor yields of crops, livestock, and fisheries.

This will be especially impactful in Arid and Semiarid Lands (ASALs) areas in the Northern and Eastern parts and particularly in the Eastern sector where reliance on short rains is high.

Thus, food prices are expected to rise and accessibility to staple food is also expected to be poor. This will in turn lead to an increase in food deficits in these areas.

The depressed rainfall expected in the ASAL areas will impact negatively the availability of foliage and pasture in the pastoral areas of Northeastern, Northwestern, Coastal, and Southeastern Kenya.

The parastatal advises that the ongoing livestock offtake programs in these areas should be enhanced to prevent further loss of livelihoods.

There is a likelihood of an increase in crop pests such as fall army warms and animal diseases as livestock migrate in search of water and pasture. Therefore, integrated pest and disease surveillance, control, and prevention should be enhanced.

The specific outlook for October-November-December (OND) 2022 is as follows:

The Lake Victoria Basin, Highlands West of the Rift Valley, and Central and South Rift Valley: (Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori, Kisii, Nyamira, Baringo, Uasin Gishu, West Pokot, Elgeyo Marakwet, Nandi, Kericho, Vihiga, Laikipia, Nakuru and Narok)

In these counties, depressed rainfall, i.e, below the long-term average amounts expected for the season.

Occasional showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue throughout the season.

The rains are expected to begin in September and last through the fourth week of December, and to the first week of January 2023 in the Southern Rift Valley (Narok).

However, a few counties (Bungoma, Kakamega, Busia, Trans Nzoia, and the extreme southern parts of West Pokot) are likely to experience near-average rains with a tendency to below-average rainfall.

The peak of the season is expected in November.

The expected rainfall is likely to be poorly distributed in both time and space.

Highlands East of the Rift Valley Counties (including Nairobi area): (Nyandarua, Nyeri, Kirinyaga, Murang'a, Kiambu, Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi and Nairobi)

These counties are likely to experience occasional rainfall during the season.

Rainfall amounts are expected to be lower than the season's long-term average.

Here, the rains should begin on the fourth week of October through the first week of

November and last till the third to fourth week of December.

Northwestern Counties: (Turkana, and Samburu)

They are likely to experience depressed rainfall below the long-term average for the season

Long dry spells are also likely during the season with mainly sunny and dry weather conditions for most of the season.

However, showers and thunderstorms are likely to occur on a few days during the season.

South-eastern Lowlands Counties: (Kitui, Makueni, Machakos, Taita Taveta, and Kajiado)

These counties are expected to experience occasional rainfall during the season.

The expected rainfall amount is likely to be below the long-term average for the season.

They should begin in the first to the second week of November through to the third to fourth week of December.

North-Eastern Counties: (Mandera, Marsabit, Wajir, Garissa, and Isiolo)

These areas are expected to experience mainly sunny and dry weather conditions and only a few days of rainfall.

The expected rainfall amount is likely to be below the long-term average for the season, and it is likely to be poorly distributed in both time and space.

The Coastal Counties: (Mombasa, Tana River, Kilifi, Lamu, and Kwale)

These counties are expected to receive occasional rainfall during the season.

The expected rainfall is likely to be below the long-term average amounts for the season. It is likely to be poorly distributed in both time and space.

It should begin raining in the third to fourth week of November, through to the third to fourth week of December.

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: 07 September 2022; Hits: 2398

Legumes improve crop yield by 43% in Africa, scientists prove

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By George Munene

Diversified legume cropping systems have been shown to enhance main crop yield (e.g., rice, wheat, maize) in Africa by 43 per cent on average with reduced inputs and environmental impacts.

Legumes increase yields, especially in low-input regions such as Africa and in low-input conditions like in organic farming. By comparison, the average gain observed in fertiliser intensive farming such as in Europe was only 15 per cent.

A legume refers to any plant from the Fabaceae family.

Common examples include; peanuts, beans, soybeans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, lupins, alfalfa, desmodium, lucerne, glycine, Sesbania, and clover.

According to the study, greater yield advantages (32% vs 7%) were observed in low yielding versus high-yielding environments.

These yield advantages decline with increasing chemical nitrogen fertiliser rates: “Legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil”, says researcher Damien Beillouin, “so where high levels of nitrogen inputs are already used, this advantage has less impact”.

This shows that legumes are key in increasing crop production in regions/ farming systems applying low inputs (e.g., in Africa or organic agriculture).

The study was conducted in 53 countries from 1959 to 2020 with 60 major legume-based cropping systems.

Crop yield after legumes is often enhanced due to the combined and interrelated effects of nitrogen (N) provision and non-N effects (e.g., suppressed pest and disease, improved soil properties).

Enhancing crop biodiversity (e.g., intercropping) or crop rotation promotes pest and disease control, carbon sequestration, and soil fertility.

These services reduce the dependence on external inputs while maintaining high crop yields and production stability.

Diversification through the inclusion of legumes in cereal, root, or tuber-based cropping systems represents a key strategy for sustainable agriculture.

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: 06 September 2022; Hits: 2171

Small-scale farmers raise incomes 50% with cheap food preservation techniques

Growing demand for dried foods especially by a rising local market and exports has birthed a new revolution, with the demand which has risen by upto 30 percent seeing smallholder farmers increase income by upto 50 percent. The dried foods which increase the food’s shelf life has been commended for stemming food wastage.

In Murang’a, small holder farmers are using solar dryers to create a whole new and booming market. With the help of private food marketing company, Azuri Health Ltd, the farmers are now drying their fruit and vegetable crops to make high-value products, such as thinly sliced fruits, including mangoes, that are packaged and sold as snacks that are increasingly popular among urban shoppers.

Vegetables such as beans are pre-cooked and the dried product turned into a meal in just a few minutes, to make a ready food ideal for busy families with little time for cooking. The modest dryer is a far cry from the mainstream dehydrator designed to dry to a high quality, but which is beyond the means of many of the farmers, at a cost of around Sh28,000 from local suppliers such as the Vibrant Health Organization.

Preserving fruit and vegetables has many advantages, including the big addition in value that it creates. For example, two raw banana fingers weighing an average 200 to 240 grams will sell for Sh50 to Sh60. But the same volume of bananas dried sell for Sh150 at local health stores.

The demand for dried vegetables and chillies has grown by 20 per cent over the last two years, says John Sitienei, Factory Manager of Mace Foods in Eldoret, which sources vegetables and chillies for drying from now 2500 local farmers. “In most cases we can’t fulfil the demand”.

Mace trains the farmers in farm management and finance and is working hard to draw in new farmers and attract bigger volumes of supplies - offering incentives like a kilogram of sugar to any farmer who delivers 15kgs of chilli.

The plant also buys indigenous vegetables like managu, saga (spider weed) and ndondo at an average price of Sh20 per kilogram, for export to the US for the African Diaspora, but its biggest demand is for chilli.

Across Nyanza and the Western regions, the most common chilli varieties are African Birds Eye (ABE) and Long Cayenne. Mace pays farmers Sh116 per kg for ABE chilli and Sh60 per kg for Long Cayenne.

According to a report done by USAID, an acre of well managed ABE can yield from 1000 to 3000 kilograms. ABE is ready for picking in two and half to three months, and picking can continue for up to 4 months.

The merit of farming chilli, said Sitienei, is that it doesn’t need much acreage to earn high returns, making it viable for farmers with a quarter or half and acre of land.

Of the chilli, 90 percent of the dried ABE is exported, with the Long Cayenne reserved for the local market.

For dried foods generally, it is the local market that is most difficult to crack, says Njoki Wainana Director of dried food company Kiburi Food Processors in Ruiru. “Dried foods are not in our culture.”

Kiburi buys mangoes and pineapples, which are among the best-selling dried foods, already dried from farmers. The drying is a value adding technique that ups farmers income by at least 50 percent, says Njoki, giving as an example the impact on banana prices. Two raw banana fingers can on average weigh from 200 to 240 grams. The cost of 200 grams of dried bananas is Sh150 at local health stores.

But the local market for dried foods is concentrated in upmarket areas like Muthaiga, Lavington or Westlands, where expatriate communities from Thailand, Philippines and Europe are used to buying dried foods.

Reaching this concentrated market, and a wider market of other food processors using dried foods as their own ingredients, is often easiest for small-holders through factories such as Kiburi and Mace, which also have direct links into the supermarkets.

But some are also adopting their own drying technology to create products that are long-lasting, opening the door to many different ways of selling. In Kenya, it is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of fruits and vegetables are wasted in farms and markets, because they perish before consumption. But dried fruits and vegetables last from 12 to 18 months and dried chilli for up to three years.

Drying requires special equipment as drying fruits and vegetables directly in the sun exposes them to ultra violet poisoning. “The market standards are quite high,” says Njoki, as is good hygiene to produce products attractive to the market.

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