Millet which used to be a feed for cheap brown porridge, has become a new recipe superfood, driving up its imports into Kenya. Because of their rich nutritional benefits, millets are considered nutraceuticals or nutritional pharmaceuticals. This is because they are completely gluten-free super grains that lower the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and blood […]
New millet recipes move crop mainstream, drive up sales Read More »
Farmer who has created chicken feed out of common pond weeds cutting feed costs by 40 per cent has won nearly Sh1M in cash for his inspiration and innovation. Samuel Kimani, the founder of Azolla and Duckweed Poultry Meal, beat out 800 other applicants to be announced as the 2024 AYuTe Africa Challenge Kenya winner
Farmer wins almost Sh1M for turning duck weed into chicken feed Read More »
Solar incubators have enabled a farmer in Bomet to move from just selling kienyeji eggs to hatching and selling his own improved day-old kienyeji chicks quadrupling his income. Every month for the last two years Gilbert Korir hatches at least 400 KARI-improved kienyeji, Kuroiler, and Kenbro chicks from his two solar-powered incubators. He sells these
Solar incubator moves egg farmer into chicks with 4X income Read More »
A biogas maker is transforming the economy of Dunga Beach in Kisumu by using water hyacinth to produce biogas that powers a communal kitchen, commercial chicken brooder, and fish dryer. Every day Dominic Kahumbu, the CEO of Flexi Biogas, and two of his employees take a boat into Lake Victoria not to fish but to
Water hyacinth fuelling a new economy in Dunga Beach Read More »
Pastoralists are turning the invasive and poisonous Mathenge weed into an animal feed with high protein to rescue them during Kenya’s worsening droughts. Isiolo and Garissa counties have invested in Mathenge Maisha Animal feed while in Baringo farmers are using mathenge (Prosopis juliflora) seedpods as the main ingredient in making animal feeds that are an
Pastoralists spin poisonous Mathenge weed into nutritious drought feed Read More »
The iCow Soil Advocacy programme is pursuing the change of farming practices by equipping agronomists and trainers in how to restore soil to lift smallholders’ yields. As a reporter with a background in agriculture, I enrolled in the programme to gain firsthand insight—and it turned out to be transformative. I first learned about the programme
iCow teaches experts how to raise all yields through soil care: my personal journey Read More »
An NGO has begun buying macadamia, doubling the earnings of farmers who previously relied on exploitative middlemen as the only buyers of their nuts. Selling their macadamia nuts to One Acre Fund, since 2022 over 20,000 macadamia smallholder farmers in Central Kenya are earning Sh130 for a kilogram of their nuts, a massive improvement from
NGO replaces middle man in macadamia doubling farmer prices Read More »
Hand-held soil scanners are reducing the cost of soil tests for farmers by more than half and the time it takes to get their soil test information from weeks to just 10 minutes. Introduced by the Dutch Company AgroCares, the handheld scanner gives farmers an on-the-spot report of their soil and recommends what fertilisers they
Soil test scanners drive up yields with Sh650 ten minute tests Read More »
The rise of jam, juices and foods from gathered prickly pears could now develop into widespread cactus farming, with farmers in China’s arid areas now producing nearly 3 tonnes a hectare of foods and feeds with almost no rain by planting and harvesting the apple cactus. The farmers are harvesting 2.8 tonnes a hectare of
Farmers move from cactus gathering to cactus farming on arid lands Read More »
Growing jack beans, farmers get a double shot in high protein food for their families and a doubling of the yield of their other crops as the bean restores health to rapidly degrading soils by cooling the soil, providing a soil erosion stopper, and adding green manure. Every year African soils lose up to 60kg
Jack beans deliver rich food and yield jump for neighbouring crops Read More »