Smart farms

European Union to fund over 15,000 coast farmers to grow cashew nuts and sesame (simsim)

ripen cashew nuts

More than 15,000 smallholder farmers from Kwale, Kilifi and Lamu counties are set to benefit from an initiative which will see them access finance from European Trust Fund to enable them grow cashew nuts and sesame as reports shows that lack or inadequate funds has been a challenge to most farmers.

According to the Scaling up Agricultural Credit in Africa, Frontier Issues Brief 2016 by One Acre Fund, Providing smallholder farmers with access to credit is essential to unlocking long-term, sustainable gains in farmer productivity and incomes.

Without financing, smallholder farmers cannot afford the relatively high upfront costs of quality seed and fertilizer, relying instead on poor quality seed and little to no fertilizer among other challenges.

The brief also indicates that many farmers resort to informal lending from family, friends, moneylenders, or other value chain actors such as input suppliers, buyers, and traders. However, these other sources charge much higher interest rates than commercial lenders, sometimes as high as 10 times and access is uneven across the population.

The European Trust Fund project which is supported by the European Union (EU) through member countries such as Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary in connection with Ten Senses Africa Limited and Farm Africa will see smallholder farmers brought into the cashew and sesame value chain, significantly raising their incomes from the crops.

The EU project aims at raising and distributing over one million improved cashew and sesame seedlings and seeds for over a period of four years targeting the farmers within the said region.

In addition, farmers will be certified as producers of organic and fair-trade cashew and sesame. A cashew factory with a capacity of 2,400 tonnes a year is also in plan.

FinScope estimates that 30 to 60 per cent of the rural population in sub-Saharan Africa has no access to credit at all. Therefore, the EU initiative are among the innovative and creative approaches which are needed to successfully provide access to credit for smallholder farmers.

Despite the lack of the lack of adequate supply of smallholder financing in Kenya, there are also several organizations which are using innovative tools to reach rural farmers. These include Juhudi Kilimo, BRAC and One Acre Fund.

Juhudi Kilimo provides asset-based loans to more than 20,000 smallholder farmers in Kenya, BRAC whis is based in Bangladesh, provides credit and savings to more than four million people in more than 280,000 groups across the country while One Acre Fund offers more than 280,000 farmers in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania seed and fertilizer, financing, training, and market facilitation services.

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USAID launches Sh28bn project to help over 200,000 Rwandan farmers improve crop yields

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) last week launched a new Sh28bn project to support over 200,000 farmers grow at least 50 per cent more crops on the same amount of land by promoting sustainable use of fertilizers, improved seeds and watering practices.

With more crops per hectare, farmers will have more money and greater food security.

Rwanda’s staple food is mainly Irish Potatoes, but maize is one of the foods sustaining families both for income and intake together with beans and potatoes.

The project, called Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze, will be implemented over five years in 10 districts across Rwanda.

Hinga Weze will also provide pest management training, affordable safe-insecticide, and spraying equipment to help farmers combat the invasive Fall Armyworm pest that infested 17,521 ha of crops out 60,000 ha in 2017.

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The project will also bolster the resilience of Rwanda’s agricultural sector to a changing climate. By the end of the project, over 600 new hectares of farmland will be fitted with new irrigation infrastructure.

The new USAID-funded project will also improve the nutrition of hundreds of thousands of pregnant women and young children across Rwanda, who are vulnerable to stunting. That’s because the Hinga Weze will partially focus on the cultivation of highly nutritious foods, such as orange fleshed sweet potatoes and high-iron beans, and will train families and communities on preparing nutritious meals.

rwanda farmers

Farmers in Rwanda preparing their fields. Photo:Courtesy

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the levels of stunted children under the age of five in Rwanda dropped to 36.7 per cent in 2015 from 43 per cent in 2012.

The project launch in Bugasera District was attended by the U.S. Ambassador to Rwanda, Peter Vrooman, the Minister of State in Charge of Agriculture, Fulgence Nsengiyumva, other Government of Rwanda representatives, agribusinesses, farmers and others.

Hinga Weze will be implemented in the following 10 districts: Gatsibo, Kayonza, Bugesera, Ngoma, Nyabihu, Rutsiro, Ngororero, Nyamasheke, Karongi, and Nyamagabe.

More than 90 per cent of Rwanda’s population depends on agriculture to sustain their livelihoods.

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Steps to follow in certifying seeds

Farmers who produce seeds for sale can certify them at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) as a way to deal with counterfeit seeds in the market.

Roughly four out of ten seed packets in the country contain counterfeit seeds with three quarter of Kenyan farmers planting fake seeds at some point.

The main objectives of seed certification is to ensure that farmers receive the best possible, quality seed, so as to maximize their crop production and to ensure that farmers are not at risk of planting fake seeds.

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According to the National Seed Policy document for Kenya, the source and quality of most of the planting materials and seed purchased, multiplied and marketed by the informal seed sector may not be known, yet this is the major source of planting material for the farmers.

Road-side nurseries for forest and fruit trees for example, do not have clearly documented sources. Other informal sources of seed include farm saved seeds, farmer-to-farmer exchange, local markets, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs).

kephis seeds and plant varieties amendment act bill 2015

A farmer who wishes to apply to be a seed merchant must register with the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) by filling forms SR 1, 2, 3, 4 and SR 5 found on the KEPHIS website.

Field inspection then follows where farmers need to provide proof of origin of the parental materials of the varieties registered for inspection. If a new variety, this must also include the descriptors of the parental materials.

Timely inspection in the fields is conducted to ensure that seed resulting from a crop meant for seed purpose is of the designated variety (trueness to type) and has not been contaminated genetically or physically (varietal purity) beyond certain specific limits. The crop must be healthy and free from diseases (especially seed borne).

Seed crops of approved fields are harvested and processed to remove undesirable contaminants such as weed seeds, inert material, immature seeds, broken and diseased seeds. The seeds are also graded into different sizes and treated with protective chemicals. The results are filled in form SR 6.

Laboratory seed testing is then done and is useful in determining quality factors such as purity, germination capacity, moisture content and health status (seed-borne diseases) of seed lots. Representative samples from processed seed lots must be tested for germination and purity to determine compliance with seed standards.

Upon satisfactory fulfillment of the prescribed requirements, every seed lot is provided with a label and a seal. Containers are labeled and sealed in such a way the seed cannot be removed or changed without damaging beyond repair, the container, the label or the sealing device.

Post control tests follows and this is done to ascertain whether or not the preceding control measures have been effective. The tests ensure that the characteristics of cultivars/varieties have remained unchanged in the process of multiplication.

Under the Kenyan seed law crops falling under the compulsory certification include cereals such as maize, wheat and barley, grasses, pasture legumes and root crops like Irish potatoes.

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