A rabbit farmer, who visited a friend and found him rearing guinea pigs in the kitchen, has expanded his venture in the later livestock after learning they do not need special care to thrive. Taita-Taveta County’s Joseph Mwashighadi was pleased by the rat-like creatures feeding on kitchen remains in the free-range system at his friend’s […]
Farmer sells guinea pigs by roasting them for consumers Read More »
Small-scale dairy farmers can install adjustable plastic biogas digeters on loans, which are repaid in installments of up to 24 months. GesiShamba Biogas Systems Coordinator George Mwangi said the flexible terms allow for farmers to pay as little as Sh3,600 per month for the smallest digester of two to three cows capacity. “The programme targets
Firm fixes boigas on loans Read More »
Farmers can store excess livestock feeds for more than one year by adding sugarcane molasses to the silage for preservation. Molasses, which is a by-product of sugarcane, takes about 18 months to crystalise or turn mouldy. After that period, the sugary substance may not release enough organic acid required to prevent the feeds from rotting.
Molasses secures livestock silage for over a year for farmers Read More »
Tomato farmers using black threads in supporting the plants off the ground can cut on pest control unlike those using yellow threads, which attract multiple crop enemies. Most farmers pay little attention to the material provided it serves the purpose. Supporting every plant with one or two yellow strings turns the greenhouse or open field
Yellow staking strings attract tomato pests, expert warns farmers Read More »
Arrowroot farmers can cut growing period by two months by planinting a high yielding and quick maturing variety from Rwanda, which is also drought tolerant. The traditional Kenyan varieties mature in eight month after transplanting. But the dry land arrow roots from Rwanda mature in six months. Nyeri County farmer Mary Njeri said the arrowroots
Six months maturing drought resistant arrowroots enter Kenya Read More »
Men working to lay a plastic digester for one of the GesiShamba farmers. The plastic digester allow for resizing to fit the volume of cos dung a farmer has unlike the concrete ones. PHOTO COURTESY OF GESISHAMBA. Farmers, who rely on biogas as the source of energy for their homes can install adjustable plastic
Plastic biogas digesters fit changing livestock size Read More »
One Nyeri County farmer has found a new way of mixing multi-nutrient exotic beans, sweet lupines, with maize flour to feed his semi-indigenous cattle. The mixture has seen him increase milk output by three litres. Juma Gichohi, learnt of the multiple nutrient in the beans, which originated from Egypt and the Mediterranean regions, and decided
Exotic beans boost Nyeri farmer’s milk output by three litres Read More »
Farmers may soon spend about a sixth of the current tillage costs per acre after the Jomo Kenyatta of Agriculture and Technology commercialises its cheap fuel multipurpose Shujaa Tractor for small-holder farmers. On average, it costs about Sh3,000 to hire a tractor for one acre. The big tractors need more than 10 litres to till
JKUAT Shujaa Tractor to cut farmer’s tillage costs by five times Read More »
Farmers bordering high speed streams or rivers can push up to 5000 litres of water a day without incurring any power costs using a Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) Hydraulic Ram Pump. JKUAT renewable energy expert Richard Njihia said the machine, which is also called hydram pump, has been designed to reduce
Farmers to pump water free with JKUAT stream hydram Read More »
Farmers giving livestock feeds laced with yeast stand to increase milk out-put by up to three litres due to improved conversion rate. Nyeri County farmer and yeast distributor Boniface Mwangi said he has seen gradual increase of milk from one litre to two litres over time after consistently mixing yeast with commercial feeds. “Yeast expels
Feeding dairy cattle with yeast adds farmers three litres of milk Read More »