February 2023

  Human-wildlife conflict has become a thorny issue especially now that farmers are opening up more forests for economic benefits. Threatened wild animals attack humans as they invade farms for livestock or crops for food because of the shrinking land resource. Farmers bordering conservancies, for example those in the counties of Nyeri, Meru, Kajiado, Taita-Taveta, …

Poisoning invasive wildlife brings negative consequences to farmers Read More »

Similarly, plants require elements such as potassium and sodium ions which are key in transportation of food. Phosphorus, manganese or iron deficient soils will have a crop that does not depend much on these minerals to do well. A farmer would only know which fertilizers and the quantity required to boost the element through chemical …

Soil testing key for high productivity Read More »

As the potato cyst nematodes (PCN) threaten to wipe out potato production in the country, research has shown that extracts of canola can reduce the infestation given that there is no commercial product for the treatment of the pest in Kenya. Some regions in Kenya have reported 100 per cent infestation of the pests, with …

Canola helps combat potato nematode menace Read More »

An en­ter­pris­ing farmer is cash­ing in on the pent up de­mand for su­per­ior chicken vari­ety, Kur­oiler, in Uganda to brood eggs for farm­ers with poor brood­ing prac­tices ham­per­ing avail­ab­il­ity of chicks. Des­pite the fact that the rare bird has be­come more pop­u­lar among wealth seek­ing farm­ers and youths, there is major set­back sur­round­ing the breed. …

Kuroiler chicken brooder finds fortunes from in-demand breed Read More »

Rwanda urban farmers are utilizing little resources by practicing static bucket ponds for cat fish rearing in a move also hailed as key in taming urban hunger. A team of extension officers from Rwanda are deepening fish farming among the urban dwellers in Uganda with the introduction of the of static bucket ponds for Cat …

Urban farmers tackle hunger with bucket fish rearing Read More »

Farm­ers who have tra­di­tion­ally grown sug­ar­cane are find­ing sweeter days re­pla­cing cane with maize and Soya beans in a move boost­ing house­hold food se­cur­ity and in­come. Since the set up of the once giant miller in Kenya in 1970s, many farm­ers have re­lied on it as a sole source for sur­vival by cul­tiv­at­ing and de­liv­er­ing …

Mumias farmers find sweet returns in soya after abandoning sugarcane Read More »

The practice of burning maize stalks on farms by most farmers who find no use for them after the maize harvest is working against them with agricultural officers sounding the alarm that the practice is responsible for destroying soil matter and ultimately fertility. This may come as a shocker to thousands of smallholder maize farmers …

Post-harvest farm burning having negative consequences for crop yield Read More »

Over 5,500 women farmers in Nyeri farmers are correcting decades of pesticide misuse that depressed soils nutrients and left them impoverished with a new legume and flower growing venture now pointing them to international markets. This is why Kevin Gallagher, a researcher recently found himself in a field in Nyeri, in central Kenya, surrounded by …

5,000 Nyeri farmers earn & fertilise soils from legume & flower growing scheme Read More »

Small­holder farm­ers in Kenya are em­bra­cing plant­ing trees that do not com­pete with crops for nu­tri­ents a ven­ture that is pay­ing off with some of the trees even fer­til­iz­ing the soils while of­fer­ing the farm­ers extra in­come. The prac­tice known as agro­forestry has been cham­pioned by gov­ern­ment and other ag­ri­cul­tural in­sti­tu­tions as hav­ing re­turned im­press­ive …

Farmers reap double growing trees with crops Read More »