December 2022

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Potato growers use thermal imagery to produce potatoes with less water

                        By George Munene  Scientists from the International Potato Center (CIP) have shown that the use of thermal imagery to measure the water stress of potato plants and precise irrigation according to crop stress can produce good harvests with less water. At 70 per cent, agriculture …

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Sugar farm

Researchers advise raising import cost, dismantling cartels to revive sugar sector

By George Munene  According to a research paper published in December of this year (2022) dubbed “A review of the state of sugar cane crisis in Kenya” raising the cost of imported sugar, protecting local producers from sugar cartels, and lowering the cost of domestic production were identified as the key ways of reviving the …

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Govt earmarks Sh422 billion for 10 agri programs between 2023 & 2026

By George Munene During the short to medium-term period, 2023/24-2025/26, Kenya’s Rural and Urban Agriculture Development (ARUD) sector plans on implementing 10 major programmes worth an accumulated Sh422 million in order to facilitate the attainment of food and nutrition security, agro-processing, employment creation and utilisation of the blue economy.  Released today–30th December 2022– as the …

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Oct-Dec short rains 55-70% lower as Kenya enters 5th drought season

By George Munene The 2022 October to December short rains were the fifth consecutive below-average rainy season as Kenya’s historic drought persists.  According to USAID’s Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET), at the end of November, cumulative rainfall is less than 70 per cent of the 30-year average across most of the country, with …

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Study shows climate change reduced cattle by 25% in semi-arid Kenya

  Cattle population in Kenya’s semi-arid regions has sharply decreased by more than 26 per cent in the past 30 years, and a new study attributes this to the constantly rising temperatures due to global warming, and reduced or unpredictable rainfall patterns. The Pathways to Resilience in Semi-Arid Economies (PRISE) study, jointly funded by the …

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Free e-learning course trains farmers to tackle crop pest increasing yields

Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International (CABI), a not-for-profit inter-governmental development and information organization, has devised an e-learning course that will enable farmers to gain skills and methodologies required for the field-based diagnosis of pests and diseases. The practical e-learning course dubbed, PestSmart is the first in a series of new and unique e-learning courses …

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Mumias farmers value add rejected soya beans to earn additional income stream

  A group of farmers from Western Kenya has started processing among others sossi yogurt, flour, and beverages from soya beans as a solution to the smaller quantities of their products which were going to waste due to rejection by a high volume buying company. The farmers pooled together under the Mumias District Federation of …

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Beekeepers keep off crawling insects with grease, jelly and curry mix

Beekeepers can cheaply and easily keep off crawling insects that invade their beehives in search of food by smearing on the hives’ posts grease mixed with Vaseline (petroleum jelly) and curry powder rather than using grease alone which is not fully effective. According to Ezekiel Mumo, Project Officer at Bee Care Apiaries International Limited, using …

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