Ugandan horticulture industry has narrowly escaped a ban on its exports to European Union which had earlier accused it of non compliance of the set safety standards. The commitment by the horticultural regulatory body to rein in on errant exporters has seen the EU relax the ban. This coming at a time when Kenya’s fresh …
Flower customers loose upto $100million due to poor temperature control along supply chains, with Kenyan flowers being among the worst hit by long supply chain aftermaths. However one company is reversing this sorry state of affairs. The value of Africa’s cut flower sales to Europe amounts to some $500m – but about 20 percent …
Company tames flower loss by shortening supply chain Read More »
Students at Chisare Secondary School of Western Kenya are earning their school income from the sale of tomato plants in a classic example of how agriculture is helping schools sustain themselves. Students receive training in how to improve the quality of their produce and learn how to grow high-value crops, such as tomatoes. The school’s …
Tomato turns Western students into entrepreneurs Read More »
As weather patterns become unpredictable farmers at the Ahero Irrigation Scheme, one of the key rice farming projects in western Kenya, are turning to other crops during the dry season to earn them more revenue. The farmers have started growing watermelons, butternuts and pawpaws, which have proven to be more profitable than rice. Delayed payments …
Rice farmers intercrop to insulate themselves from weather changes Read More »
Deaths from water related conflicts in Kenya have risen from 200 yearly in 2009 to 1200 according to data from police and security agencies, with conflict areas expanding in a damning revelation that places water as the next oil as supply dwindles. Kenya is not new to water wars. But they have been concentrated in …
Refugee students at Daadab are stemming food shortage in the area through pawpaw, spinach and beans, and earning from sale of surplus at a time when food shortage has bitten the camp. The students have planted a garden of pawpaw, spinach and beans inside a natural fence of thorns, like barbed wire. But it’s the …
Daadab refugees find reprieve in pawpaw, bean cultivation Read More »
Behind dry and rocky terrain in Kajiado county is a farm with over 80 high pedigree Fresian cows producing over 600kilos of milk in a classic tale that has demonstrated how vanguard farmers are turning hardships into opportunities. Welcome to the Ole’ Ngishu Dairy farm a 100 acre farm that has revolutionized dairy farming in …
Science graduate builds milk powerhouse in the desert Read More »
In Khaoya area of Western Kenya, the sound of women singing and cheerfully chatting from an abundant sorghum field draws attention from neighbors passing by. The women’s yips and cheers could be heard down the street. Drivers along the road stopped and leaned out their windows to take photos of the sorghum stalks, talking about …
Quality seeds herald sorghum boom in Western Kenya Read More »
A favourable packaging policy in Uganda is enticing Kenyan carrot farmers who have long been buffeted by intermediaries who use extended bags to rob. The situation is so dire that a bag of 120kgs goes for Sh4,000 in Uganda with a 180kg bag going for Sh1800 in Kenya. Kenyan farmers including the ones involved in …
Ugandan favourable packaging policy entices Kenya carrot farmers Read More »
An association of 35 dairy farmers producing 32 litres a day in the 1990s has transformed into a Sh452million empire that has increased farm gate prices for farmers while insulating them from market vagaries like glut. “When I came in January 2007, I found a rural based organisation that was being run on an ad-hoc …
