By George P. Munene After 13 years in the aviation sector, retired Captain Dan Ng’ong’a has meshed his newfound passion for agriculture and his aviation background to help farmers master precision agriculture that helps them raise their yields and cut on costs. “A drone fitted with an 18-liter tank can cover five acres of farmland …
Former KQ pilot uses drones to help farmers increase yields & cut cost Read More »
By Brian Moseti An increase in appetite for traditional African vegetables (TAVs) is opening up new markets for Kenyan farmers abroad. The demand has been brought about by a rise in the numbers of Africans immigrating to the US, Europe and Australia. This is in addition to the reduction of barriers in accessing these markets as a result of …
New international markets opening up for African vegetables Read More »
By Brian Moseti Eric Munene grew up with several jackfruit plants in his homestead in Kibugua region of Chuka, a town on the eastern slopes of Mount Kenya. However, it was only recently that he began to recognize it as a valuable plant. The jackfruitis a multiple fruit consisting of several small one-seeded fruitlets. The entire fruit weighs 4.5-50 kg and is oval, oblong or ellipsoid in shape. …
Rising jackfruit popularity changes fortune for farmers Read More »
By Brian Moseti Among the common sights at homesteads in the Ewaso Kedong region of Kenya’s Kajiado County are mounds of manure, sometimes covered with tarpaulins or plastic bags. Being pastoralists, members of the Maasai community who live in the area typically have many cows, goats and sheep, which overnight, generate tonnes of waste within …
Biogas brings clean energy solution to pastoralist homestead Read More »
By George Munene A solar insect light trap is one of the most effective tools of insect pest management in both organic and conventional agriculture as it mass-traps both insect pests sexes reducing farm pest burden by up to 80 per cent.Light traps are energy-saving and easy to use and independent of electricity allowing farmers …
Solar insect light trap organically reduces pests by 80% Read More »
By George Munene Sugargraze is a new hybrid specialty forage introduced to the Kenyan market by agri-produce multinational Advanta. The multi-cut high sugar forage promises farmers a 30 per cent increase in milk output. Given it is a sorghum variant sugargaraze is drought tolerant compared to other fodder crops such as maize and napier grass. …
Drough tolerant sugargraze sorghum increases milk output 30% Read More »
By George Munene The Farmer Service Center is made up of a network of over 300 agricultural extension workers in 12 counties that help farmers with the entire farm to market value chain. Started in January 2020, through its extensive network FSC helps farmers source ready markets for their crops before they even begin work …
300+ extension network helps farmers hack farm to market value chain Read More »
By George Munene A private company, Manufacturing on Wheels Limited, has teamed up with the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology to roll out motorbike powered and mobile agro-processing machines. The first system scheduled for commercial rollout taps motorbike power to drive a manual coffee pulper that can process up to 400kgs of cherry per hour …
Boda boda powered coffee pulper increases processing capacity eightfold Read More »
By George Munene Lamech Kabuti a passion fruit farmer and seed propagator in Eldoret has self-selected and introduced a high yielding passion fruit variety, Mkulima Wonder, which yields three times more than available traditional passion fruits. “With Mkulima Wonder I harvest up to 50 tonnes from an acre piece of land compared to the 20-25 …
New Mkulima Wonder passion fruit yields 3X more than traditional varieties Read More »
By Fredrique Achieng’ The Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI) a leading plant science research organization, has launched a farmer education program to help farmers in Coastal Kenya fight against the Papaya Mealybug, a pest that causes 56% to 91% in yield losses. The campaign dubbed “Taking to the Airwaves” is funded by the …
CABI launches papaya mealybug farmer education program Read More »
